Eduardo Sasso

Recently, I have been obsessed with Slow Burn Yoga. Maybe it’s the impending bikini season, but I have been looking for yoga classes to really connect me to my body and challenge me physically.

I stumbled across Rodney Yee’s Slow Burn Yoga class, which has opened me up to this style of yoga. I highly recommend it because it combines mindfulness with the benefits of yoga. There are many Slow Burn Yoga classes online such as through the Gaia channel and YogaGlo as well as in select yoga studio classes.

Here are my reasons to try this style of yoga:

To burn more calories

Slow Burn Yoga is designed to burn more calories several ways. First, it engages muscles continuously. When you move slow you no longer can rely on momentum to enter or hold poses. Instead, you have to “manually” manipulate your own weight.

To increase mindfulness

Different from a fast pace continuous Vinyasa Flow (which has other benefits), Slow Burn Yoga slows down the pace. The methodical relaxed pace settles your mind and you can catch the teacher’s instructions to inhale and exhale. You avoid over-focusing on the yoga pose and develop the ability to observe your breath and mind throughout the yoga class. It’s ingenious!

To become aware of your Chi and move Chi around

The teacher guides your body down to the arm and hand movements. As you slowly move your body mindfully through space, all of a sudden you feel a surge of energy pulsing through your body. That is what you call your Chi, your life force energy! Qigong is another healing practice that protects your chi-energy much like this type of slow burn yoga!

To slow down

The slow pace calms your racing thoughts and and causes them to eventually fade away. You enter into the present moment. After the class is over, you can easily continue with this state of awareness. Being aware of the present moment increases happiness because you ignore the worry and obsession of your mind and focus instead on the beauty and miracle of each moment.

To ground your energy

While moving slow, it is harder to stay upright and avoid falling down. As a result, you begin focusing on ways to position your body so as to ground yourself in a secure manure. In this way, you send your energy downward and draw the earth’s energy into your body. After practice, you continue to feel this grounding connection as you walk and move through your day.

To increase energy

When you breathe deeply, you move your chi-energy and speed up your metabolism which increases your overall energy! The Slow Burn Yoga class is like starting a fire that burns for hours. In the end you will feel positive and easy to contribute in the best way possible for the rest of your day!

If you have ever wanted to both increase your mindfulness while doing yoga, I highly recommend this Slow Burn Yoga style! Try it in the morning to set the tone for your day and rev up your metabolism!