Yoga series consist of asanas done in sequence. The most common yoga series is Surya Namaskara or the Sun Salutation, originating in the Hatha Yoga system.
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Surya Namaskara
Surya Namaskara Sanskrit for Sun Salutation owes its name for expressing devotion (bhakti) to Surya, the solar deity in the Hindu pantheon, by concentrating on the Sun. The Sun Salutation is, for many yogis, an exercise to be performed at sun rise, or at least in the morning. Surya Namaskara is a sequence of twelve asanas, where the five beginning asanas are the same as the last five asanas of the sequence. The Sun Salutation can be practiced at varying levels of awareness, ranging from that of physical exercise, to a complete sadhana which incorporates asana, pranayama, mantra and chakra meditation.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
This style of yoga involves practising asanas which are easily and quickly done sequentially or consecutively where ujjayi breathing can be incorporated. Vinyasa means flow in Sanskrit, In this practice of yoga vinyasas are completed between poses to refresh the body and prepare for the next posture. A vinyasa typically consists of chattaranga, followed by a cobra/ upward dog position into a downward dog. Downward dog is considered to be the restorative posture and is a resting pose to regain the ujjayi breath before moving on to the next posture.
Bikram Yoga
Bikram Yoga is a style of yoga developed by Bikram Choudhury and a Los Angeles, California based company, Bikram Choudhury Yoga, Inc. Bikram Yoga is ideally practiced in a room heated to 105 °F (40.5 °C) with a humidity of 40%, and classes, which are 90 minutes long, are a guided series of 26 postures and two non-pranamic breathing exercises.
Five Tibetan Rites
The "Tibetans" was published by Peter Kelder in 1939, and republished in 1975. The practice was re-introduced by Christopher S. Kilham in 1994, with his publication "The Five Tibetans". There is little historical or cultural evidence to support Kelder's booklet. Most scholars of Tibet and authentic lineage holders state his publications are works of fiction (in the same vein as Lobsang Rampa). Kelder's writing is notably discordant with the five traditional Lamaits schools in many ways; there are five chakras in Tibetan medicine, not seven chakras; Tibetan medicine considers health to be a balance of five elements, not the speeding up of seven vortices; Yoga in Tibet never included whirling; authentic Tibetan yoga always includes over a 100 movements. An authentic Tibetan practitioner will always reveal the name and lineage of their teacher (usually accompanied by long dedicational verses), but there is no lineage holder, of either high or lower stature, from any tradition in Tibet, that acknowledges anything to do with The Five Rites. Also Tibetans did not teach secret yoga practices to Westerners or laypersons in the 1930s. To attempt a practice without reciting from or memorizing an authentic ancient text is unheard of in all Tibetan spiritual lineages etc. The Five Tibetan Rites, more commonly referred to as "The Five Tibetans", is supposed to be a derivative of Taoist Yoga and closer in nature to the practices of Chinese alchemical and martial practices of qigong and nei gung than traditional Hindu Yoga. The first Rite involves spinning 21 times with the arms stretched, like the Sufi dervish practice, and the last four by executing a simple sequence of moving back and forth between two different asanas. According to Kelder, the rites are healthy because of the fitness element it contains, and that people above the age of 40 would rejuvenate by doing them each day. Kilham focuses more on the metaphysical aspects of the practice, noting the benefits of chakra balancing, energizing the pranamayakosha sheath, and awakening kundalini.