Yoga pertains to an entire group of spiritual and physical practices that date back as far as 3300 BC in India, an era in which anthropologists have uncovered statues depicting figures in yoga-like postures. As you can imagine, yoga’s influence on the Western world in general and here in the United States in particular, has taken place in a veritable blink-of-an-eye when you look at the whole history of yoga.
Nevertheless, there are a number of people from the past and present who have had a profound influence on the spread of yoga in the West, and probably few of greater significance than the five people listed below…
#1 Rodney Yee
Rodney’s Yoga: http://www.gaiam.com/category/yoga-studio/yoga-instructors/rodney-yee.do
Rodney Yee was once a gymnast, a ballet dancer, and a philosophy major. What do all of these things have in common? The helped him satisfy a deep hunger for knowledge and understanding of the human mind and body. This curiosity is what led him to begin learning, and eventually teaching, his own form of yoga. Rodney has appeared on several national morning shows, and daytime television talk shows like Oprah. He owns a major yoga studio in LA, and is probably THE most well known yoga personality in America, next to Bikram.
#2 Bikram Choudhury
Bikram’s Yoga: http://www.bikramyoga.com
Although he was born in India, Bikram began teaching his “hot yoga” classes in the California during the 1970s. This form of yoga, in which students perform mostly Hatha yoga poses in a heated room, may be the most popular type of yoga in the United States today.
#3 Shiva Rea
Shiva Rea’s Yoga: http://www.shivarea.com/about
Her name sounds Indian, but Shiva is actually an American-born yoga instructor, daughter of an artist/surfer. Shiva has released several award-winning yoga videos, and has traveled the world to appear at yoga retreats and international studios. Now a regular contributor for the Yoga Journal, Shiva has built a name for herself as one of the best yoga teachers in the Western world. She is widely known for her cultivation of Vinyasa yoga techniques into her own style called Prana Flow.
#4 Patricia Walden
Patricia’s Yoga: http://www.gaiam.com/category/yoga-studio/yoga-instructors/patricia-walden.do
While many Western yoga teachers are drawn to the temptation of creating their own, unique style of yoga, branding it and watching it flourish, Patricia has remained dedicated to her Iyengar yoga roots for over 25 years. She has co-authored The Women’s Book of Yoga and Health and starred in several award-winning yoga DVDs, including the best-selling Yoga for Beginners series.
#5 Seane Corn
Seane’s Yoga: http://www.gaiam.com/category/yoga-studio/yoga-instructors/seane-corn.do
The extremely beautiful, talented and charismatic Seane Corn teaches Vinyasa yoga, and is the star of the hugely popular Vinyasa Flow Yoga DVD series. She has been featured on the cover of the Yoga Journal three times, and has also appeared on the covers of Natural Health, Fit yoga, Yoga Life and Healing Retreat and Spa Magazine. Many are drawn to Seane Corn’s charisma and authentic messages of change and progress. She has worked with several political and social programs to bring changes to local and global communities, including a shelter that houses and educates adolescent prostitutes, and YouthAIDS. Born in New Jersey, Seane had her first yoga experience at the Life Cafe in the East Village area of New York.
Have we left out your favorite yoga teacher? Opinions differ widely as to who has had the most influence over modern yoga. But there is no denying that the five yoga instructors above, whether you agree with their teachings or not, are have had a major impact on the way yoga is practiced and taught here in the U.S. and around the western world.
Watch the video related to fitness yoga
Any guesses what the most popular athletic activity during pregnancy is? YOGA! So get started with this video! Check out more at: pregnancy.healthguru.com
Help answer the question about fitness yoga
Christians: is doing yoga as fitness a sin?i think doing it for fitness and not religion is totally fine. i heard someone say it opens us up to the devil, i thinkt that's really legalistic. do you?
About Author
Everett Sizemore is a freelance writer and contributor of content to health and fitness websites. He lives in Denver, CO and runs a fitness industry marketing website.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Ashtanga is great, like the above answer says. However, I find a traditional ashtanga practice to be too rigid – it's the exact same poses every class, and much of the primary series (which will be the focus of most ashtanga classes you get at gyms, studios, etc.) is a seated sequence that I find rather monotonous. In most ashtanga classes, each posture is held for 5 breaths.
I prefer a vinyasa flow style or "power yoga" class (which has roots in ashtanga, but is not as rigid – its sequencing is pretty much up to the instructor). In terms of strength and fitness, Bikram Yoga is great for cardio/strength – it is a fixed sequence of 26 postures done in a room heated to 90-something degrees. You will likely either love Bikram or hate it – if you try it, be sure to hydrate well in the 24 hours before you go, and bring a lot of water and a large towel (or 2) – you sweat a LOT (I'm not a fan of this form of yoga, for a couple of reasons, one being that I get so dehydrated afterwards no matter how much water I drink that I get pounding headaches; also I find it hard to hold some of the postures when I am literally soaked from head to toe). The purpose of heating the room to such a degree is that your muscles are more pliable as they heat up, and you can more easily get into postures.
Other types I find physically challenging – Jivamukti, Iyengar (can be a slower flow, but is challenging because you hold the poses for longer and really focus on alignment), Forrest (each pose is held for a really long time) and Taoist (I had a great Taoist teacher who moved away – most studios don't offer this style, it's not really mainstream in my experience).
Types that you may want to stay away from (more spiritual and/or restorative than physical) – Kundalini, Kripalu, Svaroopa. Hatha classes can be harder, or more geared towards beginners – it really depends on the instructor.
Good luck – I've been practicing yoga for about 4 years, and it is one of the best things I ever started doing. If I can help with class/studio recommendations in your area, let me know!
Curves
I haven't taken a class at LA Fitness, but have done lots of yoga. Generally you need a yoga mat, towel, loose fitting clothing, and a bottle of water. That's about it. If you don't have a mat, you can sometimes borrow one from the gym, but you should check with them. They are pretty cheap (about $20) so I would get one of my own as the tend to get pretty sweaty!
I liked Carmen Electra's strip tease workout. It was fun and I felt the workout. Yoga Booty Ballet is the best out of the ones you listed
I recently bought a home gym. It is made by PowerTech and called the 'workbench'. It is great!! It took a while to setup…the directions weren't great but the machine is!! I bought it at Dick's Sporting Goods. 8ft by 11ft. It was $1000 without the weights…so I guess it depends on how serious you are and how much you have to spend.
It would be a lot of money to spend if a month or two from now you aren't using it much.
I don't know how well you could there.
In many ways, large parts of the country are still quite primitive and not sophisticatd enough to deal with the necessary 'breaches', etc.
We spend most of our life in a forward flexed position, whether it be hunched over a desk, bending forward to pick things up. slouched in a couch. Most of our world encourages us to lean forward, so we typically have good flexion mobility. However, we then lose our ability to extend our spines (ie bend backward). This leads to extra stress and pressure on discs, ligaments, and our back muscles are forced to work harder to hold us up. This can cause burning, pain, and sometimes tingling.
Lying back over the exercise ball is a great way to take your spinal joints through their full extension range of motion with the assistance of gravity. Your extensor muscles relax and the forward curvature is reversed to a degree (depending how flexible you are). To get a gentle stretch just let some of the air out of the ball. To progress for a more intense stretch just pump up the ball so it's firmer. The spine worx device looks pretty rigid and is probably much more expensive than the ball, so I would try a ball first. Remember that once you get the mobility, you need to be able to control it. ie you need to be able to maintain a good postural alignment in standing and during activity. The exercise ball can help you in that regard as well.
By strengthening the deep core stabilizers you will be able to maintain your postural alignment. The spine worx doesn't offer that versatility.
Here's a great website that'll show you some stretches over the exercise ball and some strengthening exercises as well so you can maintain that postural alignment:
http://www.exercise-ball-exercises.com
It does both. Yoga is progressive. The mmore limber you become, the more you can do. Holding those poses is harder than it looks, and a good yoga session will leave you drenched in sweat like any other workout.