Yoga at Home for Absolute Beginners!

Simple Savvy Steps for Yoga Success: Kicked Out of Class!

Many people learn yoga or probably MOST people learn by attending a class at the local YMCA, gym, or upscale yoga studio.  Classes can be wonderful if you find a skilled, patient instructor who provides clear instructions.  Your class should be small enough so your instructor has time to give every participant at least a minute or two of individualized guidance.  Otherwise, you might has well watch a yoga DVD. 

Unfortunately, one drawback of attending a class that fits your schedule and budget may be the particular personality and outlook of the yoga instructor.  A yoga instructor who lives the core principles and tenets of yoga should be calm, relaxed, flexible, and accommodating to his or her students.  Such is not always the case!  One of my work colleagues was "kicked" out of her weekly evening yoga class this past week. That's how she described it! 

My friend takes certain medications prescribed by her doctor that can cause her to be drowsy at different times during the day.  Needless to say, during an evening class, the relaxation she enjoys through yoga sometimes has caused her to doze off and snore, to her teacher's great chagrin.  Granted, snoring could be disturbing, however, this instructor seemed to be a bit more irritated and rigid than a "centered" yoga instructor should be, based on my colleague's tales of discomfort in this particular class. 

My also colleague revealed that after a few episodes of dozing off in class, the instructor relegated her to the classroom closet during the meditation segment of the class.  Imagine, in the middle of a yoga class, lying in a dark closet covered by a blanket, to avoid disturbing others!  After months of classes, the instructor finally decided that my colleague just didn't fit in...   

This past Tuesday, as diplomatically (sort of) as she could, she strongly encouraged my colleague to find another class.  Well, at least she was slightly more sensitive than my modern dance instructor in college who asked me if I had ever exercised, at all (or something along those lines).  My conclusion?  If you do yoga at home, you will never be kicked out!

Yoga Quote of the Day:  "The benefits of physical Yoga are very great.  Not only do they far surpass those of any system of self-improvement for the body (calisthenics, jogging, isometrics, competitive sports), but they extend also to the emotional and mental asepcts of the individual." ~Richard Hittleman

Simple Savvy Steps for Yoga Success: Creating Your Home Yoga Studio

Most of the people I know who currently practice yoga, participate in weekly or bi-weekly classes.  None of my close friends who do yoga practice at home, at least not regularly.  I frankly, have never understood this!  My friends tell me that it takes too much self-discipline to get up and do it at home.  "Too many distractions," they say.  Besides, they like the camaraderie that group lessons offer. 

Logical explanations - I would not dispute such reasoning per se.  However, for me, it requires much more effort to get up and go to a class.  Besides, I have found the early morning is the best time for me, at least during the workweek, to fit in yoga practice. Distractions are minimal -family members are still sleeping.  No one has every called or knocked on my door at 5 a.m. No one says, let's go for lunch or happy hour.

One way you can boost your motivation to do yoga at home is to create your own mini home yoga studio.  If you have a spare room, all the better.  But, if not, you can at least carve out a space in a room for your personal yoga studio.  Buy a good yoga mat - preferably one that is extra thick, if you have hard floors.  I just ordered a new mat that is 1/4" thick rather than the typical 1/8" thick.  Light a few candles (scented or not) at the beginning of your yoga practice.  Hang some inspirational posters or artwork on the walls near your practice space.  Play soft background music.  Test what works for you. 

Sometimes I practice in silence.  Other times I practice with light classical or "sound-scape," new age music.  I play it by ear. I have tried some CDs supposedly designed for yoga practice that I found highly annoying and distracting.  Discover what motivates and inspires you to consistently engage in your practice. 

You may need none of these accoutrements.  And, you don't have have to invest in high priced yoga attire either to do your yoga poses.  But, do what makes you feel good and juices your motivation.  I personally think you will find it easier to practice yoga daily if you make it special in some way.  Creating your own mini home yoga studio can help!

Yoga quote of the day:  Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy.  Constant practice alone is the secret of success.  ~Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Simple Savvy Steps for Yoga Success: No Age Barrier!

I began hatha yoga at age fifteen.   That was decades ago...and after decades of doing yoga off and on, I have noticed the greatest benefits during the past year.  Yoga is wonderful because you can began practicing it at ANY age, really.  Granted, an eighteen year old may be able to immediately move into certain poses with little difficulty (although, not always); whereas someone who has "swung around the sun" a few more years may require quite a bit more time before mastering certain poses.   

Nevertheless, I believe Hatha Yoga is a practice that you can do forever - especially the gentle, Hatha yoga poses that you move into slowly (in a dreamlike state) and hold for prescribed times.  Stories abound about "seniors" doing yoga  A few years ago the Washington Post Style section featured an eighty-something year old woman who practices yoga regularly, doing poses I have not dared to attempt yet. And she still loves to wear stiletto heels after her yoga practice.  My minister knew a woman who at age 100 was teaching yoga and bemoaned the fact that she had to buy her FIRST pair of reading eyeglasses a year or two later.

I once had a yoga book that recommended a particular practice for maintaining youthful vitality -- focus on yourself at a younger age when you felt at your peak and just stay there in your mind...Soon you will notice yourself feeling that and maybe starting to look younger too.  I know, I know.  Sounds kind of like California, new age, woo-woo stuff.  But, it's not a bad idea to contemplate and to test for yourself as you starting doing your yoga poses.  It certainly won't hurt and you may reap even greater results from your yoga practice, regardless of your chronological age!  Our spiritual essence is ageless anyway.  Practicing yoga regularly enables us to realize this.

Yoga Quote of the Day:  "No one is too old to practice yoga...One of the most wonderful and revealing things about yoga is the incredible range of humanity who can practice it and receive its results."~Eugene Rawls & Eve Diskin, Yoga for Beauty and Health.

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: What Yoga Can Do For You

As I have studied yoga off and on over the years, I have been astounded by the myriad benefits that hatha yoga (and other types of yoga) can offer the person who engages in it regularly.  Health is our natural birthright. 

Unfortunately, however, our sedentary, modern lifestyles have caused many people to slow down, to become stiff, rigid, and out of shape even when they are chronologically young! Yoga for Beauty and Health, the first book I ever read about hatha yoga states, "An obvious weakness that is becoming more general every day is the deterioration of our physical fitness, appearance, and health.  ...People no longer ride horses, walk miles to work, play vigorously, climb, jump, run, or bend as part of their everyday..." 

Since those words were published 40 years ago, things have further deteriorated!  Daily, as I take the metro to work, I observe dozens of people dragging along, shuffling their feet, moseying on down the road at a seeming snail's pace, weighed down by excess pounds and stiff, inflexible limbs. 

With shoulders slouched and heads bowed toward the ground (what are they looking at!?), I wish I could explain what yoga could do for them.  A few of of the benefits yoga offers include:  1) relief from tension in the back, the neck, the spine - often caused by sitting too long in front of the PC;  2) vibrant muscle tone and firming of one's body through stretches and inversions; 3) increased energy and vitality; 4) deep and completely improved circulation; and, most importantly 5) stimulation of vital glands and organs. 

Yoga exercises reach into your body and create specific improvements you brains, lungs, colon, thyroid gland, kidneys and other organs. Yoga creates fitness from the inside out.  I have personally felt stronger inside and out since during the past 10 months of mindful practice.

Yoga Term of the Day:  Mudra - a position taken by fingers or limbs symbolizing an inner quality or intent.

Yoga Quote of the Day: "Mountain pose teaches us, literally, how to stand on our own two feet.... teaching us to root ourselves into the earth.... Our bodies become a connection between heaven and earth."  ~Carol Krucoff

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: Demystifying Yoga

You can easily find information about yoga everywhere these days.  I don't think I see a week pass by without encountering an article about yoga, an advertisement showing someone in a yoga pose, (like the one in this blog), a commercial doing a spoof on yoga, or hearing about new yoga classes.

Yoga has become a recognized, ubiquitous part of our society - like golf or tennis (almost).  Except, of course, yoga is not a "sport."  Instead, yoga is a comprehensive system of poses that enhances rapport between the mind and body and help to release the vibrant health that is your birthright.

Even though 16 million people (or roughly 5 percent of the population) in the United States reportedly now engage in some form of yoga, 95 percent of the population does not do yoga or really have any connection with or knowledge of yoga.  They have no clue. And misinformation is too common. 

Despite its growing popularity, probably because of its Indian origins, yoga still seems esoteric or frankly rather "woo-woo" for many people or at best, intimidating.  Misconceptions are common - some people may still believe that taking up yoga will require amazing feats of physical prowess and flexibility that can be achieved only by a select few. It doesn't help that the media highlights athletes engaged in pretzel-like, advanced yoga poses. 

Some people fear that attempting yoga may injure them;  other wonder if yoga will require them to change their personal spiritual or religious beliefs.  None of this is true.  Virtually anyone can begin practicing yoga (particularly the basic Hatha Yoga poses) and no changes in lifestyle are required.  (Except the setting aside of a daily chunk of time to give yourself the gift of yoga.) 

In short, Yoga is an ancient discipline strategically designed to maximize one's health and vitality.  And, in particularly (in my view), hatha yoga is one of the gentlest and most effective systems to support you in living life on full throttle.

Yoga Quote of the Day:  Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity.  This evolution includes all aspects of one's being, from bodily health to self-realization.  Yoga means union - the union of body with consciousness and consciousness with the soul.  Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one's actions.  ~B.K.S. Iyengar, Astadala Yogamala

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: World Yoga Day - Feb 3

As you will learn in upcoming postings, the regular practice of Yoga develops oneness of body, mind, and spirit.  I have experienced this since I adopted a mindful approach to my practice.  Like me, you may start feeling felt greater oneness not only within yourself and immediate circle of loved ones and friends, but even beyond that. 

You may develop a desire to support your neighbors across borders and oceans. This likely explains the establishment of "World Yoga Day" which will be held this Sunday, February 3.  In all time zones from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., yoga classes will be devoted to Amnesty International's campaign for human rights in China, and will lead to a 24 hour yoga marathon session. 

Several Washington, DC area yoga studios are participating in World Yoga Day(Georgetownyoga.com; Yogadistrict.com). And, of course, if you practice on your own, you can touch down on your mat during that time as well.  For more information, see Worldyogaday.net.

Yoga Quote of the Day:  Yoga accepts.  Yoga gives.  ~April Vallei