Most series of yoga asanas (physical postures) include one or more spinal twists to loosen the many joints that make up your spine. If you want to be more James Bond than Charlie Sheen, get yourself on the mat.” Being forced to unplug from text, calls, and email for 60 to 90 minutes doesn’t hurt either. Sadie Nardini, host of “Rock Your Yoga,” adds: “Along with training your body, yoga trains your mind to see the bigger picture and act from integrity instead of freaking out.

But Terrence Monte, a managing teacher at Pure Yoga, says, “going to amped up gyms or punching a punching bag can make you more aggressive or more tired.” Yoga, on the other hand, employs a number of relaxation techniques, which, with regular practice, can make you calmer overall. That’s just a handful of different yoga variations designed to improve flexibility, athletic ability, mental clarity, and more.īefore we get into the basic poses, here’s why you should practice yoga, in any variation. And Vinyasa focuses around the mind-breath connection and works the body with aggressive stretching. Hatha yoga is good for beginners because of its slow pace and introductory poses. For those who want a more fast-paced practice, consider power yoga. If you want to wipe yourself out and break a serious sweat (no joke), try Bikram (hot) yoga. With that said, there are a number of yoga styles, and finding the right one will help ensure you keep up your practice. But relax: It’s actually the most basic postures-not the fancy positions-that provide you with the foundation of flexibility and strength every man needs. When you’ve never tried yoga, it can be intimidating, especially if you’ve been scoping the jaw-dropping, super bendy, pretzel-like poses your girlfriend practices each morning.

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