Question:
I have been practicing a different kind of yoga, if we can define it in that way. My teacher started doing kenpo karate 25 years ago, and about 20 years ago they went to Okinawa to improve their technique. There they studied a "special" kind of warm up - cool down exercise system which is, by the words of my teacher, a Chinese derivation of yoga.
We do some poses of standard yoga but constantly in movement (that's why I call them poses and not asanas), sometimes slow but mainly fast movements (two different poses are not directly connected, so i wouldn't call it power yoga). The teacher says that the rhythm of the exercises has been slowed down to allow us to do it until we develop enough strength and flexibility to do them even faster. He also says that this is because in China the climatic situation is different than in India so the workout must be more vigorous.
Has anyone of you ever heard of such "yoga"?
I must say that in the beginning I started to loosen up a bit but after 5 months of practise I gained in muscular mass (and strength) and now it interferes with the flexibility i gained. Since there are may ways to actually do yoga, can this be "correct"?
Answer:
There are many different paths that arrive at the same destination! The question is where do you want to get to! Apart from Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutation) - yoga asanas should not be practiced in haste. Slow and smoothe are the key words.
