How to Start Yoga - Yoga for Beginners
You cannot do Yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are Yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state. - Sharon Gannon
Yoga doesn’t need any kind of costly equipment except for loose comfortable clothes and a Yoga mat. For Yoga to get started, what you need to do is to try a Yoga class or a video so you will be able to learn some basic and effective steps by watching them as they are performed, however, if you just try to follow these steps from the pictures or description in the books you may not be able to take the actual affluent benefits of Yoga. A class has the additional benefit of an instructor guiding you in a proper manner for each pose so you can perform it the way it has been guided to you with least amount of strain on your body, obviously!
We all take simple positions in everyday life, like lying down, sitting, standing, prone inverted etc. But with proper practice of the Yoga postures the beginners can benefit to a great extent. These simple activities are arranged and worked out so that a Yoga beginner also learns from them. Medical practitioners find Yoga to be therapeutic. They even suggest making Yoga a part of their everyday life. With gradual introduction of Yoga and its method, health benefits can be gained.
Lighten up:
Mostly Yoga sessions begin with a kind of meditation or relaxation. It could include silent meditation in a seated position or lying down, guided imaginary where you imagine a soothing scenery or just focus on your breathing, this process will help you to lighten up your mood and calm you down so that you can make the busy day grind fade away and turn your focus on your physical and mental state at that moment.
Warming Up:
In Yoga, it is very necessary to do some warm up poses before the session so you will be physically ready for Yoga exercise you want to practice. Warming up will help your body to adapt some forthcoming difficult poses of Yoga. If you are focusing on a certain area of your body, you better warm up that area pretty well.
Whole Body Stretching:
After warming up, you need to stretch the body, in Yoga, this stretching usually done through Sun Salutations, which are a series of movements that flow from one to the next. Although, there are many different variations of Sun Salutation. Hewitt's method is to stand up straight with hands together in prayer position, fetch your arms up and curve back, then bend forward and touch your toes or the floor. Keep one leg between your hands and bring the other one back while lifting your head and torso. Next, bring the other leg back and hold your torso up with straight arms, then bring your torso to the floor, bring your torso and head up while keeping your legs and feet on the floor. Next push your hips back into Downward Dog, and then bring your right foot between your hands while keeping your left leg back with your torso and head extended. Then go back to a forward bend, come up slowly and again raise your arms and bend backward, finishing standing straight in Mountain Pose. Repeat this series three to 10 times.
Poses:
As a Yoga beginner you can start with standing pose, followed with sitting posture, Supine postures, twist poses, prone postures, inverted and balance postures, back bends and finishing asana. When you are finished with your entire session, perform another series of relaxation poses.
Some Do’s for Beginners:
- Inform your fitness instructor that you are new to Yoga fitness regime.
- You can seek the help of other advanced students to demonstrate poses.
- Before joining Yoga classes get some idea about basic Yoga tactics by searching online or via DVD’s.
- Start fresh with refreshing bath prior to Yoga practice
- Always end the Yoga session with Shavasana (corpse Pose)
Some Don’ts for Beginners
- Avoid taking heavy meals before any Yoga exercise.
- Make sure that you have eaten 3-4 hours before the class.
- You can have some water before and after the Yoga class.
- Avoid tight fitted clothes, shoes and socks while doing Yoga.
