Beginners guide to doing yoga at home

At first it can be quite difficult to practise yoga at home. However, if you understand the fundamentals from aligning the asanas (poses) to their proper sequencing, you can have a successful and injury-free home work-out.

First things first

• • Attend a class. If you don’t know much about yoga, or if it’s been a long time since you’ve been to a yoga class, attend one or two classes to help you develop a yoga regimen for your home work-out. Most yoga studios or gyms will let you try one class for free.

• • Use yoga videos. Buy a yoga DVD that has a basic guided yoga exercises for you to follow or search online for yoga videos or courses that guide you through increasingly complex yoga work-outs. Select a video or course that corresponds with your goals. For instance, if you want to lose weight, try vinvasa or ashtanga yoga; to reduce and manage stress, choose Hatha yoga; and to help heal an injury or illness, choose restorative and yin yoga. Make sure to consult sites that are supported by certified yoga instructors. Many forms of yoga, such as Ashtanga, Jivamukti, Hatha, and Iyengar, have their own websites.

Equipment

• • Although having a yoga mat is standard in yoga studios, you can also work out on a clean carpet by placing a yoga rug or towel on your carpet or on a wooden floor. Yoga mats can be bought at sports shops, yoga studios or online.

• • Keep a pillow or rolled up towel near you in case you want to elevate your hips or shoulders during your work-out. Having a yoga-strap and a couple of blocks handy might also be a good idea.

• • You don’t need special yoga clothing but you do need to wear something comfortable that isn’t too tight.

Start small

• • Determine the length of time you’d like to dedicate to yoga every morning. Start by doing less than you think you can do, then lengthen the time by five minutes every few days until you find a time-frame that works best for you. Build postures slowly. Master the most basic variation and build up from there.

• • Make sure you have enough space to comfortably work-out.

Warning

Check with a yoga teacher before doing inversion postures (any time your head is below your heart) at home. Inversion postures are advanced postures and there is high risk of injury.

Be patient and keep going

With regular work-outs, you can reap the countless benefits that yoga has to offer. Keep in mind that yoga is not about whether or not you can do a particular pose exactly like the person on a video or in a picture; it’s about the journey towards the pose, enlightenment or whatever your goal is. Keep an open mind and heart at all times.

 

Sources

www.artofliving.org
www.wikihow.com