Many teachers, gurus, masters, or simple devotees of a particular practice may be very convinced that his or her way is really the only way. But it’ll be up to you to choose what’s best for you, and whether you perhaps want to do more than one type of practice.

Here’s an idea of what the menu of practices you have to consider may include. I summarize them here as I categorized them in researching and writing my book Mind-Body Fitness For Dummies (November 2000):

Early Classics – These are pretty ancient techniques and practices that were around long before your grandparents or great grand parents or, in some cases, their parents’ parents!

They include:

• Different forms of Yoga (and there are many, many types)
• Early Chinese forms such as T’ai Chi Chuan and other martial-based mindful arts
• Qigong and other meditative arts.

Modern Classics – These have been born in the last 50-100 years or so, and include many very analytical techniques that offer more mindful focusing than meditation. They are often good ones to supplement other practices.

They include:

• Feldenkrais Technique
• Alexander Method
• Laban Movement Analysis

New Kids – These are very new techniques that often aren’t older than a year or two, but definitely don’t date back more than a decade. You can usually see glimmers and shadows of other Early and Modern Classic techniques in them since the creators were often influence by other practices and schools.

These are growing rapidly, so I can name a few, but there are hundreds and perhaps even thousands born or being born monthly.

Here are a few:

• NIA
• Chi Ball
• Tai Chi Chih
• Body Rolling
• E-motion

You can have a lot of fun sampling all of the techniques of different types before you decide which one – or which combination – may be right for you and will benefit your lifestyle and needs the best.