What type of yoga is best for me ?

We teach various forms of yoga at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre using the best of teachers from all over the world.

Yoga experience, Age, fitness level, injuries

We have many different types of people who come on our courses ranging from

• beginners to yoga, to regular practitioners to teachers
• 14 years to 60 years old
• participants who are very fit while others extremely unfit
• very healthy while others have injuries, weaknesses or health conditions

Depending on the factors above, certain types of yoga will be more suitable.

Different types of yoga at Burren Yoga

We teach 9 main different forms of yoga at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre using the best of teachers who specialise in that particular form of yoga.

Some forms of Yoga are quite gentle while other forms are very strong and dynamic.

Listed in order of most gentle first, and more stronger towards end

• Satyananda is a more traditional form of yoga and includes breathwork, more gentle postures, deep relaxation and meditation. Nice and relaxing, ideal for beginners. Ideal for stress reduction and leading to a quieter mind and more loving heart. But works deeply and powerfully to help us let go, and get in touch with the inner light within.
• Hatha Yoga is reasonably gentle and involves stretching, breathwork and expect to be challenged within your own limitations. Suitable for beginners.
• Hatha Flow yoga is pretty much the same as Hatha yoga, but tends to use a lot more flowing types of sequences of postures rather than holding one posture for a long length of time. It is reasonably gentle and involves stretching, breathwork and expect to be challenged within your own limitations. Suitable for beginners.
• Kundalini is reasonably gentle and involves strong breathing practices while one practices postures at one's own level of ability and pace, and working with energies inside. Suitable for beginners. If you are experienced one can also practice much more strongly and deeply if one prefers.
• Yin Yoga uses poses which are held for several minutes and one allows the body to 'relax into the pose'. Suitable for beginners.
• Anusara yoga is a powerful hatha yoga system of dynamic flowing postures, combined with a heart centred approach founded by John Friend in 1997. The poses in Anusara Yoga are considered to be "heart-oriented," meaning that they are expressed from the "inside out." Instead of trying to control the body and mind from the outside, the poses originate from a deep creative and devotional feeling inside.
• Iyengar is another physical form of yoga and is quite precise in its alignment within postures and uses blocks and belts to help open up more in the postures. Not as strong as ashtanga. Depending on age, suitable for beginners.
• Bikram is a fitness form of yoga which takes place in a heated room, so involves plenty of sweating and is very dynamic. Expect lots and lots of sweating and movement. Suitable for younger more fit beginners.
• Ashtanga is quite strong and dynamic and is a flowing sequence of sun salutations and postures. Please expect some sweating due to reasonably strong physical exertion. Suitable for younger beginners, or if you are older you should be reasonably fit if you are a complete beginner.
• Vinyasa Flow yoga is a flowing form of yoga which can be quite strong or it can be gentle depending on the teacher. It often utilises many of the flowing sequences from ashtanga, but often the teacher changes the flow to suit the people present. Can be reasonably strong and challenging depending on the teacher.

So what type is best for me ?

At Burren Yoga, we would like you to choose a suitable form of yoga especially if you have not tried yoga already.

If you are between 14 years and 30 years of age you may be more drawn towards a dynamic, flowing, fitness form of yoga such as Ashtanga or Bikram, or Anusara yoga.

If you are over 40 and very unfit or with injuries or health conditions you may prefer a more gentle form of yoga such as Satyananda yoga or one of our Gentle yoga and Detox courses.

Or you may prefer a course which is in-beteeen, such as Hatha yoga or Yin Yoga or Kundalini yoga.

However, if you are over 40, but have previous experience in practicing yoga and don’t have injuries and are reasonably fit, you may still like to try Bikram, Anusara, Vinyasa flow or Ashtanga yoga.

This will all depend if you prefer to be physically challenged during the yoga classes, or whether you prefer a more gentle, relaxing meditative form of yoga.

If you are looking for a form of yoga that is best for stress reduction and relaxation, then Satyananda yoga is best by far.

If you are over 40 years of age, and have never practiced yoga before you are advised to choose one of the following forms of yoga... which are listed from the most gentle... and then getting progressively stronger.

• Gentle yoga and Detox
• Satyananda yoga
• Hatha yoga
• Hatha flow yoga
• Yin yoga
• Kundalini yoga
• Anusara yoga

If you have any back, neck or knee injuries you are better advised to choose one the gentle forms of yoga above.

If you have health condition or injuries or weakness which you feel could hold you back or cause problems doing physical yoga postures, you are advised to talk directly to Dave at the Burren Yoga Centre on the phone 091-637680

What type of Yoga are you looking for ?

If you are looking for a nice gentle and relaxing type of yoga, then you should choose

• Gentle yoga and Detox
• Satyananda yoga
• Hatha yoga
• Hatha flow
• Yin Yoga
• Kundalini yoga

If you are looking for very strong and energetic and fitness type of yoga you could choose (listed in order of most strongest first, and then getting less physically challanging

• Ashtanga yoga
• Ashtanga & Vinyasa flow
• Bikram yoga
• Anusara yoga

More information

If you still are not sure about a particular course, then please contact Dave at the Burren Yoga and Meditation Centre

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