Yoga styles and their advantages - Anna Trökes in conversation
Yoga teacher Anna Trökes
© privateChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Why is all the world crazy about yoga?
Anna Trökes: Yoga is the science of man: how do mind and psyche work and how do breath and body hang together? Yoga solves the inner knots and tensions, lets you distance yourself from things, teaches you to stay with you - you become more relaxed. Every person who tries yoga makes similar experiences.
Vinyasa, Iyengar, Sivananda, Flow or Anusara Yoga: why is there an infinite number of yoga styles?
There are as many asanas (exercises in yoga practice) and yoga styles as there are people; so everyone can find their own access to yoga: access to something that opens their hearts - sufficient offers are important here.
What are the differences between the yoga styles?
The styles are like an old text in ever new melodies: they are, so to speak, remixes of the original yoga traditions: The good old BEE GEE's song comes as salsa, sometimes as reggae, sometimes as dub version ... The melody is the sun salutation (a fixed sequence of yoga exercises) and the whole set of asanas. In addition to the traditional, physically oriented Hatha Yoga (Iyengar, Asthanga, Jivamukti, Shivananda), there are the meditative styles, which can be summarized under the term Raja Yoga, a yoga form, which is driven by people who explore their mind and know meditations want to learn. The more spiritual directions of Vedanta, Bhakti Yoga are based on the absolute devotion to God or a guru.
How do I find the right yoga style for me?
Try out. What suits the individual is a question of the personality structure. For example, if I came to Bikram Yoga in my first yoga class, into a hot room where I can not get out and not open the windows, I would personally get the crisis and stop yoga. Pure Asthanga yoga would be way too sporty for me, so it is good that there is also Yoga Flow that goes in the Asthanga direction but is not physically demanding. One person doing Iyengar Yoga looks for the strict forms, the precision, and the repetitive repetition of the exercises - others make that crazy.
(Editor's note: A list of the yoga styles can be found here: Yoga styles
Strikingly many of the modern styles have developed in the US - are these still based on a common yoga tradition?
Many yoga teachers known today in the West are descended from the Indian tradition of Krishnamacharya, which was continued mainly by his son Desikachar and other disciples: for example, B.K.S. Iyengar, founder of Iyengar Yoga. Also very common is the style of Swami Sivananda, whose Sivananda Yoga includes the so-called Rishikesh series as a fixed exercise sequence. From the Asthanga Yoga taught by Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois, for example, the Power Yoga developed in the States - other yoga styles that have developed in the US are: Anusara Yoga, Yoga Flow, Jivamukti Yoga, ...
Is there a noticeable difference in American and European practice?
I do not think so - I traveled a lot in America and learned from American teachers; I can not confirm the prevailing prejudices that American yoga practice is only body-optimizing and superficial - quite the contrary: many great yoga personalities are traveling in the US, e.g. Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa (Kundalini Yoga), John Friend, who developed Anusara in the 70s, Shiva Rea, the founder of Prana Flow - Energetic Vinyasa Yoga or Rodney Yee - they are all Wow!
What is the "unity in diversity" that is often talked about in yoga?
It is about yoga that man finds himself and his resources, that he does not always look for the outside, but finds what is inside him, what makes him happy, what makes him happy - yoga is a resource-oriented model. The inner resources that you discover and connect to, and that are always accessible to you, make yoga so good at stress. The variety selection allows me access to my resources and to unity.
Yoga has changed over and over again in recent years - where to go?
Yoga observes, what do people need - right now. At present, for example, the so-called "economic crisis" is also an issue in yoga schools: What does it mean for the individual? Can we control it? In traditional Indian yoga, the focus on one's own resources was less pronounced, but in European and American yoga, this topic has been and is being taken up and developed very strongly. The health aspect of yoga has always been there and especially Hatha Yoga has been closely associated with the teachings of Ayurveda for centuries.Modern yogis have taken a closer look at the health aspect and combined it with back exercises, spiral dynamics, Pilates, Feldenkrais and other methods to help people treat their bodies well. This is only possible through constant self-reflection of the teacher and of course the student.
Where is your personal focus today and what is the most important for you?
For many years I have been working with the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali (the traditional teachings of yoga), which can be used as a "manual" for the lessons: I teach Prana Yoga, which builds on the source texts of Hatha Yoga: My personal interest is clearly in the life energy: Prana. Both complement each other to a perfect system. The most important thing is to find a unity in me from a life that threatens to shatter further and further - a point in me where everything gathers and joins together. If I have that, I can dance again at all weddings.
About the person: Anna Trökes
... has been teaching Hatha Yoga for more than 30 years in her own yoga studio, the "Prana Yoga School" in Berlin Charlottenburg, where she also offers teacher training. She is a member of the BDY (Professional Association of Yoga Teachers in Germany) and co-founder of the "German Academy of Yoga of Energy". She is the author of numerous yoga book classics and publisher of the DVD "Yoga for a healthy and strong back".
