The Body You Want, The Poses You Need
Fitness Goal: STRENGTH

By Nicole Kwan

20 ways to boost your power, strength, energy, and endurance

You're busy. We get it. But you still want every benefit possible from the time you spend in practice—power, strength, energy, and endurance—without spending hours on the mat. To help, we've asked four top yoga experts to choose their favorite poses to create the ultimate yoga workout. It’s a virtual yoga buffet where you can fill up on all your favorites in one stop, and still have a little time to tackle the rest of your life.
 
In this series, we've pulled over 20 poses from ashtanga (better than a Hollywood weight trainer), vinyasa (the Ironman of yoga), kundalini (could be called ginseng yoga), and power yoga (equal to power lifting), pick the ones you need for your workout goals, and get started on the body you want.

FITNESS GOAL: Strength

STYLE: Ashtanga is made up of six set series of increasing difficulty. Even at level one you can feel the burn because you use your body like a free weight set. “This makes your muscles longer and there’s strength in length,” says Nicki Doane.
EXPERT: Doane, cofounder of Maya Yoga on Maui, could kick The Rock’s you-know-what. She’s also one of the few Americans who has the Indian Oprah of yoga (Pattabhi Jois) on speed dial.

Practice the first Ashtanga sequence, Sun Salutation A (Surya Namaskar A) 5-10 times a day using Ujjayi breathing: with mouth closed, inhale through the nose, sipping breath up back of throat and exhaling as if fogging up a window.

Upward Salute (Urdhva Hastasana)

Stand in Mountain Pose, feet hip-width apart, weight balanced between feet. Inhale and bring hands out and overhead, palms together.

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