There are several types of yoga popular in the United States: Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram, integral, yin and restorative yoga. "Practicing yoga can help a person improve flexibility, balance, limberness, blood circulation," says Dr. Bobby Kapur, assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, "and it can also relax muscle tension and fight infection." You can exercise after yoga, although you should let your body dictate what kind of exercise you perform, and at what intensity.
Walk After Ashtanga, Bikram or Hot Yoga
Gentle walking is probably best following a Bikram or other heated yoga practice, and is also appropriate after practicing Ashtanga, vinyasa or power yoga styles. Particularly in classical Ashtanga, you will be using a way of breathing, called ujjayi, or "victorious breath" that quickly heats up the body for detoxification by way of sweating. The amount of water loss from sweating and endorphin release after these athletic styles of yoga means you may feel too loose and relaxed to run, bike or surf, for instance.
Bike or Slow Jog After Iyengar Yoga
According to Timothy McCall, M.D., "When you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility." That flexibility can help you in any kind of exercise you enjoy doing. Biking or a mellow jog might be appropriate after you do an Iyengar yoga class that focuses on standing poses or poses done with props that are not physically taxing. For example, standing poses such as Warrior I demands leg strength but you will probably have the physical reserve to still bike or do a slower jog after class, if that is what you want to do. For example, the leg strength you emphasize in Warrior I, or Virabhadrasana I, may give you the right kind of quad strength that will help you bike home.
Bike, Walk, Lift Weights after Integral Yoga
Integral yoga or other more gentle yoga practices where you are not creating a lot of pitta, or heat and not perspiring as you would in a Bikram or Ashtanga class, may make it appropriate for you to do light resistance training, biking, walking or a slow jog. Resistance training, if done slowly and methodically, can become meditative. These forms of yoga tend to emphasize a mind and body connection, gentle pranayama or breath work that may put you in a meditative place that would make it difficult to play tennis, for example.
Stroll After Yin or Restorative Yoga
Restorative or yin styles of yoga are the least overtly strenuous forms yoga. Restorative yoga is designed to calm the central nervous system or shushumna with poses done reclining on folded blankets or bolsters. For example, a supported backbend can be done with a stack of folded blankets placed under the upper back as you lie back on them. Yin yoga can include poses that you remain in for several minutes for a passive stretch. In these cases, you will probably be so relaxed that you may want to sit and meditate or even nap. If you feel it is appropriate, a very slow walk may be the only possible form of exercise after a deeply relaxing yoga class of restorative or yin postures.
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