This is great news whether you’re an advanced practitioner interested in trying out different yoga styles or you’re a beginning yoga student shopping for your very first yoga class.

Whether your interest in yoga is for physical fitness, for the health benefits yoga offers any number of conditions and illnesses, or purely spiritual, you will surely find a yoga style and teacher you like with a little shopping.

The number of yoga styles and traditions can be daunting, so here is a list of what yoga you can find in Knoxville, TN and where you will find it:

Ashtanga Yoga: Ashtanga is one of the more athletic forms of yoga still rooted in tradition, emphasizing movement through a prescribed series of postures.
• SideCrow Yoga: (865) 584-3864

Hatha yoga: Hatha literally means “forceful,” though it is often attributed to gentle yoga in the West. Any form of yoga incorporating body postures and breath control could be said to be hatha yoga, including the yoga teachers below (and all the other types of yoga listed in this article).
• Yoga with Shanti: (865) 584-1086
• Yoga for Life: (865) 591-3281
• Five-Element School of Yoga and Meditation: (865) 300-8125

Iyengar yoga: Iyengar yoga emphasizes precise alignment of the body while holding postures.
• Knoxville Yoga Center: (865) 694-0101

Kripalu Yoga: Kripalu Yoga integrates yoga postures and breathing with meditation, making it as much an inward experience as it is an outward exercise. Classes range from gentle to vigorous.
• Yoga with Santosh: (865) 368-8773

Kundalini Yoga: Kundalini Yoga is an intense combination of purifying, energetic movements with breathing and chanting to awaken energy centers called chakras.
• Yoga with Ajeet: (865) 851-7830

Prenatal and Momma-Baby yoga: Yoga can enhance a healthy birth and keep mom in shape afterwards.
• Lindsay Rogers: (865) 705-YOGA

Vinyasa yoga: Vinyasa, flow, and power yoga is the movement from one posture to the next connected by the breath. Usually the flow is based on the sun salutation and the pace of movement between poses is fairly fast, but that is not always the case. The classroom is sometimes heated for increased flexibility and body purification.
• SideCrow Yoga: (865) 584-3864
• Knoxville Yoga Center: (865) 694-0101
• Yoga with Santosh (slow, meditative flow): (865) 368-8773

Yin Yoga: Yin Yoga targets the connective tissue – tendons, ligaments, and cartilage – for increased flexibility. Postures tend to be held for longer periods as a restorative technique.
• SideCrow Yoga: (865) 584-3864

Best wishes in finding the right yoga class for your particular needs, and welcome to the Knoxville yoga community!

If you currently teach yoga in Knox County, TN and I did not include you in this article, please contact me and I will add you if appropriate. Note that you must hold or qualify for the Yoga Alliance’s 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) designation for inclusion.

Related Posts

• October 18, 2007 — Kripalu Yoga class at Yoga Haven in Knoxville, TN off to a great start!
• October 29, 2007 — New yoga classes in Knoxville, TN at Yoga Haven
• October 23, 2007 — New yoga class in Powell, TN starts Thursday
• October 12, 2007 — Free Kripalu Yoga Workshop, Oct. 17, 2007
• October 1, 2007 — Free yoga class in Knoxville, TN, Thursday Oct. 4, 2007

1. Nail down your goals and find the right style for you.

Everyone comes to yoga for different reasons. Sometimes these differences are slight, other times they’re vast.

For instance, are you interested in an intense physical workout to throbbing music, or are you on more of a spiritual path towards (quiet) enlightenment? Are you attracted to yoga because of its health benefits, and if so, is it physical or emotional health you are most interested in?

Are you interested in the philosophy and rich traditions of yoga, or are you on the other extreme and wouldn’t be caught dead reciting a mantra?

Whatever your personal needs and proclivities, there’s a yoga for you. If several flavors of yoga are offered in your area, do your research online or in the library to find which style would be the best fit for you.

Once you know what it is you’re looking for, you can set some goals. Call the teacher of the beginner yoga class you’re considering and ask if your expectations are reasonable.

2. Choose a drop-in or series beginner yoga class

A drop-in yoga class allows you to pay-as-you go. There will likely be some turnover week to week as to which students show up for class. The teacher is likely to keep this class on the mild side, because students will be at such differing ability levels.

This may be just what you’re looking for if you just want a taste of yoga but don’t want to buy an expensive package of classes. This may also be a good choice for you if your schedule won’t allow you to attend a class every week. Keep in mind there are significant drawbacks.

One, because the class is ongoing, you will never get to start at “the beginning.” You may be a little lost at first while you learn the culture of the class. Also, drop-in beginner yoga classes tend to be repetitive.

A series yoga class is different in that you buy a set number of classes and each class builds on what you learned in the previous week. A good series class is repetitive only in that there is some review each time, but then the teacher introduces new material.

You can learn much more much faster in a series class, but again there are drawbacks. First, if you miss a class it may be difficult to make up the material that you missed. Also, you will be asked to pay for the whole series up front.

Take a look at your level of commitment, your schedule and your budget and decide whether a drop-in or a series class is better for your needs.

3. Make sure the teacher has adequate training.

Yoga is now a significant contributor to sports injuries. This can be attributed to two things: students pushing themselves too hard for perfection and inadequate training of instructors.

Don’t be shy in asking your potential instructor about their background. There are certifications for teaching “gym yoga” that an instructor can get in a long weekend. A three day training is just enough to make someone dangerous. That’s not to say that some of the people who start with such certifications don’t turn out to be excellent instructors by dedicating themselves to practice and increasing their knowledge over the course of months and years.

There are of course people who teach yoga with no formal certification whatsoever, and though it might be difficult for these teachers to get liability insurance, there’s nothing illegal about it. Keep in mind that yoga is a spiritual tradition thousands of years old, and the idea of giving someone a certificate for learning a few poses and breathing techniques would have been an odd idea indeed even seventy years ago. It is one thing to wake up one morning and decide to teach yoga with little to no experience. It is quite another to teach after living for years under the tutelage of a master yogi who just doesn’t believe in certificates.

As a general rule, seek out yoga teachers with at the very least 200 hours of training. In the United States there’s an organization called the Yoga Alliance that offers a registry of teachers who attended training programs that meet certain standards. Someone can have the Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) designation from the Yoga Alliance and still be a crummy teacher, but usually RYTs are a safe bet.

4. Look into additional costs of the yoga class.

Sometimes there are additional costs involved in taking a beginner’s yoga class besides the registration fee. You may need to buy your own yoga mat, strap, or other props, for instance. In some classes you may need to buy certain books for study or even special clothing of a certain color.

It is important to know what the related costs are up front so that you and your bank account won’t encounter any surprises later on.

I hope this checklist will help you find a beginner’s yoga class that’s right for you. If you have any comments, I’d love to hear from you.

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• March 21, 2008 — Yoga Knoxville, TN: Free class opportunity
• March 11, 2008 — Knoxville Beginner’s Yoga Series Starts March 25th, 2008

Though Classical yoga (a.k.a. Raja yoga or Pantanjala yoga) is considered one of the schools of orthodox Indian philosophy, therefore a member of the philosophical wing of Hinduism, Hatha yoga is not.

Hatha yoga has its roots in Classical yoga, to be sure. But the Hatha yoga system developed out of great changes that took place during the medieval period and the tantric heresy. Hatha is not considered one of the branches of orthodox Indian philosophy and therefore is not “Hindu” per se.

That’s the opinion of the author.

I see Hatha yoga — and the Kripalu Yoga approach to Hatha — as a spiritual tool, or system of tools, rather than a system of beliefs. Various forms of yoga exist within several different religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

But you certainly don’t need to be a member of one of those religions to participate in yoga, or to benefit from the transformation (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) that occurs during the practice of yoga. You can bring your beliefs with you to yoga class. And you can take the spiritual awakening that occurs through the use of the tools of yoga with you to the religious life of your choice.

Related Posts

• October 29, 2007 — New yoga classes in Knoxville, TN at Yoga Haven
• October 18, 2007 — Kripalu Yoga class at Yoga Haven in Knoxville, TN off to a great start!
• October 12, 2007 — Free Kripalu Yoga Workshop, Oct. 17, 2007
• October 4, 2007 — Free weight loss yoga class Thurs. Oct. 11
• October 1, 2007 — Free yoga class in Knoxville, TN, Thursday Oct. 4, 2007

Knoxville Interfaith Meditation

Ananda Marga

Losel Shedrup Ling

30 Good Leaves

There are other groups without web sites. Meditation group organizers are invited to contact me with their information.

If you would like to learn the basics of relaxing meditation or insight meditation, I make house calls and office visits. Please contact me for details.

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• February 19, 2007 — Two new Knoxville, TN yoga classes
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• September 16, 2007 — New Kripalu Yoga classes in Knoxville, Farragut and Oak Ridge start this week!
• April 3, 2007 — Powell, TN yoga class: Big hit

I got an email…

Hallo,

the source of the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra
seems to be […] Hein Braat.

namaste,
munish

So there you have it. No more mystery. The next mystery is, who is Hein Braat? Hard to find info on the guy…

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• October 26, 2007 — Free Relaxation Recording
• March 10, 2007 — Bhakti yoga kirtan, March 17th
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• September 18, 2006 — World Peace Day meditation, Sept 21 at 7:30am
• September 2, 2006 — Knoxville Yoga for M.S.

It’s times like these that it’s best to walk away and do some yoga then come back to my desk. Of course, when I start doing yoga, sometimes I never make it back to my desk.

Survey: Do you use spirituality as an escape, and how?

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• April 3, 2007 — Powell, TN yoga class: Big hit
• February 19, 2007 — Two new Knoxville, TN yoga classes
• February 16, 2007 — A Day of Mindfulness for your Well-being!
• February 5, 2007 — Yoga workshop: Partner yoga in Knoxville, TN
• August 29, 2006 — Yoga events in Chattanooga and Memphis, TN