Everything you need to know about yoga: principle, benefits, types

Yoga is a practice of well-being and relaxation based on the release of the chakras to unravel psychophysical tensions. We reveal the beneficial effects of yoga on both physical and mental fitness. Benefits, dangers, prices, different types of yoga.

What is yoga?

According to traditional Indian medicine, a healthy body and a healthy lifestyle are necessary for a good evolution of the soul and mind. Yoga exercises combine meditation, gentle gymnastics, postures, and breathing. Objective: to release the psychophysical tensions accumulated in the chakras.

The chakras are centers of spiritual energy, located in the body, in correspondence with certain vital, mental, and spiritual functions. There are usually seven of them, from the lower end of the spine to the top of the skull. The release of the chakras would allow a better union of body and mind and better health for the practitioner.

In the West, yoga is considered a practice of well-being and relaxation. Although it is originally a spiritual concept, it is by no means a religious practice. It is therefore accessible to all, from child to adult, believer or not.

More than 10 million people practice yoga in France

The practice of yoga concerns very diverse audiences, and can even be recommended for children, the elderly, or people with disabilities. But we know very little about the practice in France: how many followers can we count on the territory in recent years? A study carried out among 20,000 respondents under the impetus of the SNPY (National Union of Yoga Teachers) gives the answer, and reveals that no less than one in five French people has practiced yoga in the last three years. Thus, in 2010, the French were 3 million practicings, and 10 years later, they are 10.7 million (or 20.5% of the population) to have done so in the last three years or one in five adult French.

In addition, the survey shows that 1.6 million practiced yoga in 2010 on a regular basis (at least twice a month) and that today the number reaches 7.9 million, four times more. Indeed, in 2020, nearly 3/4 of practitioners (15% of French adults, 7.9 million) practice yoga regularly: 52% every week and 22% once or twice a month. Among these regular practitioners, it is the over 50s who are more assiduous when the 18-24-year-olds do yoga rather 'occasionally'. The Covid-19 epidemic and successive lockdowns have contributed to this craze since 26% of practitioners (2.8 million) have started doing yoga for less than a year.

Last lesson: men take up yoga, now representing 31% of practitioners in France. Their main motivations? Improving flexibility and deepening self-knowledge. Again, these are diligent practitioners who tend to do sessions of 2 hours and more. The survey reveals in particular that men tend to remain faithful to the same style of yoga, and are very sensitive to the pedagogical approach proposed by the teacher. If benevolence is the first quality expected of a teacher, expressed by all practitioners, they attach more importance to the fact that the teacher is warm.

What are the benefits of yoga?

According to Indian tradition, yoga is a practice that acts on the overall health of the individual. For Western doctors, its benefits are related to well-being, relaxation, or improvement of certain disorders. Yoga is recommended for:

treatment of stress and anxiety;
improved lung capacity and respiratory disorders such as asthma;
improved blood circulation;
diabetes;
treatment of musculoskeletal disorders.

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What are the different types of yoga?

Yoga sessions are usually practiced in small groups on floor mats, at least once a week. The practice is essentially based on the realization of postures (asana), the mastery of the breath (pranayama), the learning of meditation techniques.

hatha yoga (the most practiced in France and the West): the yoga of body-mind balance.
prenatal leyoga (exercises and postures adapted to pregnant women)
leyoga bikram: hot yoga
leyoga nidra: the yoga of sleep
facial yoga
finger yoga
sound yoga and voice yoga
sexual leyoga

Little is known, but yoga is not necessarily an individual practice. It can be practiced in duets (Acro yoga), most often as a couple, see too many, with friends or family.

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What are the risks of practicing yoga?

Some yoga postures are not recommended or inaccessible to people suffering from severe hip problems, multiple sclerosis, or victims of epileptic seizures.

Finally, in the context of a recent surgical intervention (less than six months), the practice of yoga is strongly discouraged.

If you have any doubts, ask your doctor for advice!

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How does a yoga session work?

The course takes place in five successive phases, more or less long:

1. Relaxation: When you arrive in yoga class, the first few minutes are devoted to relaxation. This relaxation allows you to leave your worries aside and take a few minutes to let yourself be emptied (Pratyahara).

2. Breathing exercises (pranayama): this involves observing your breathing rate and changes. These exercises are essential to learning to control your breathing, concentrate better, and listen less to the mind. The breath is very important in yoga to perform postures in full consciousness, purify the body and mind.

3. Preparation for postures: this is a part dedicated to warming up the body through a series of fluid and easily accessible postures. The best known is that of the sun salutation (Surya namaskar), a succession of twelve postures.

4. Postures (asana): postures are of course at the heart of the session. They are performed standing, lying down, sitting with progressive levels of difficulty. It is essential to focus on your breathing and seek the necessary letting go of meditation (dhyana).

For example, the position of the triangle is carried out standing, legs apart. The student inhales deeply by raising the arms stretched horizontally in the alignment of the shoulders. The hips rotate gently so that the right-hand rests on the left foot. We maintain the pose, then after several breaths, we return to the initial position to redo the movement with the other arm. There are more than 80,000 different postures in yoga.

5. Integration, at the end of the session, with the rest: at the end of a yoga session, the body needs a period of respite and mental calm before resuming its usual activity. Lying down or sitting, the student can relax one last time the muscles solicited during the practice and experience a calm body and mind before plunging back into his daily life.

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How to choose the right yoga teacher?

Before choosing a yoga teacher, you must first determine the type of yoga that is right for you. Do not hesitate to ask for the right to attend a course or to take a trial course. In general, the centres provide for this possibility at a preferential access rate. During this session, you will be able to see if the teacher's way of teaching and the practice itself are in line with what you are looking for.

In France, there is no official title for yoga teachers. The practice is therefore open to several types of training, of varying quality. It is advisable to use a teacher for a minimum of two or three years and even four years. Also, make sure that he has been practicing yoga personally for at least five years at a minimum of three times a week.

The ASSOCIATIONS UNY, FNEY, and FIDHY provide a directory of certified teachers in which you may be able to find your future teacher. Good to know: FIDHY and FNEY are ordinary members of the UEY (European Yoga Union brings together seventeen federations from European countries). The UEY guarantees a common basic program of yoga teaching, a true criterion of the quality of the profession