If you’re into exercise and nutrition then you have to know about Yoga, because done correctly, Yoga is a super-fitness. Everybody knows that Yoga makes you more flexible, but it’s not common knowledge that it also makes you strong, develops balance and coordination, and even fixes longstanding aches and pains. Yoga is an ideal addition to any health regime, and if you understand what you’re doing you can get a lot out of a very small amount of practice. Really! The key is knowing what you’re doing, which means practicing correctly.
If you haven’t done much Yoga, or you’ve only done classes where you’ve watched and followed a teacher but never really known what you were supposed to do, then stick with Yoga poses for beginners. These poses are better to learn first because they are easier on the body and they are ideal for understanding the important concepts that will be needed in all of the more challenging poses to come.
There’s no need to feel like you have to make more space in your schedule to start doing Yoga. Learning and practicing one, two, or three Yoga poses will make a noticeable difference for you, right away. Really. It’s hard to believe but it’s true, a little bit can go a long way. Why? Because Yoga targets the whole body, which is a very important part of the practice.
If you have no idea what you’re doing in a Yoga pose, your body’s imbalances will determine how you do the pose. It’s common sense if you think about it. When your left waist/lower back is tighter than the right, whenever you do a yoga pose that left side will stay tight, and the rest of the body will move to accommodate that tightness. Yoga poses don’t magically balance the body, not at all. First you have to have the awareness of the imbalances, and then you can start correcting them.
Knowing what you’re doing, or practicing correctly, first and foremost means understanding that the body’s alignment has to be your central focus when you practice. In every Yoga posture we have to learn that correct alignment; where the hands, shoulders, hips, feet, etc should be and how they should be working. When you learn the correct alignment points in Yoga poses you not only practice correctly and give your body the best effect from the time you put in, you also understand what you’re doing and why and can therefore get engaged and interested.
If you already do some Yoga or basic stretching then refining what you’re already doing with some of the proper alignment points in the poses will have a dramatic effect on what’s already working for you.
If you’re newer to Yoga or interested in starting, don’t worry about going to a class or making time in your schedule. Learn one, two, or three poses and take your time with them. See if you can fit them in every day, you don’t have to do them at the same time but if you can it’s better. If you find it easy to do them once per day see if you can do them again later in the day. This could literally take a total of 3 minutes maybe, not hard to fit in to just about any schedule. Learn the postures well by repeated practice, and let that simple approach be an easy test for you. If you make it easy on yourself in the beginning you’ll feel great whenever you do any Yoga and continue forever, and if you’re lucky you’ll find you enjoy it and start practicing more.
