Yoga at Home for Absolute Beginners!

Benefit of a Home Yoga Practice and a Recommended YouTube Instructor!

I love practicing yoga in the comfort of my home!

This morning, as I was thumbing through the August 2017 edition of the Yoga Journal, I found the editor in chief's interview with yoga instructor Caley Alyssa about the importance of listening to your intuition on and off the yoga mat. 

I was most struck though by Alyssa's response to the question, "What is the biggest lesson you've learned from practicing yoga?"  She replied,

    "Less is more. When you're doing something repetitively, you really can injure yourself.  It's better for me to stay home and do 30 minutes of what my body needs than to go to a big public class and do what someone else is telling me to do when it doesn't feel good in my body that day."

I could not agree more!  That is my philosophy as well - especially for the beginner! I have known a number of people who have suffered injuries in yoga class because they pushed themselves too far, before they were ready, just to keep up with a yoga instructor.

However, the beginner does need to get good instruction in yoga.  I managed to find some excellent books that explained yoga poses step by step in comprehensive detail which enabled me to learn yoga on my own.  And, I wrote my book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day for the beginner for that same purpose.

However, I am NOT a yoga instructor so my advice  here is to keep you motivated to practice at home and share some tips to help you keep your commitment.  And to share resources that I come across to help you maximize your practice.

Last week, a long-time friend stayed with me for several days and she showed me the YouTube videos of a wonderful yoga instructor, Adriene, who was new to me. I have watched a few of her videos and I find Adriene to be down-to-earth, non-intimidating, charming, totally understanding of the challenges a beginner faces in learning yoga, and fun to watch.  She is delightful and authentic! 

By watching Adriene's yoga videos, you can create a beneficial, safe home yoga practice and do yoga at your own pace.   And with your dog by your side! 

Check her out below!

 

 Yours for enjoying a wonderful yoga practice in the comfort of your home!

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, yoga at home coach

 

 

 

 

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Yoga at Home: Cute and Helpful Yoga Book for Your Home Practice!

     Consider adding the above yoga book to your library.  It teaches 47 poses you can do at home!

 

I periodically comb the digital "shelves" of Amazon.com for new books that provide guidance to yogis who practice at home. Recently, I discovered Amy Luwis' delightful little tome, Yoga to the Rescue-Ageless Beauty:  How to Keep Yourself Glowingly Beautiful Inside and Out!

I am always into being "ageless" and in looking one's best. This book offers so much more! The title belies the treasure trove of practical information within its covers to enhance your home yoga practice.

I recommend adding this book to your yoga library for  the following reasons:

*  Like my book (yes, a shameless plug for my book!), Amy Luwis writes in an easy-to-follow, and personal way. You FEEL her friendly presence as you read. I eschew yoga books that explain poses in a generic, lifeless, and institutional manner. Amy includes references to her own experiences in the book which makes her feel real to me.

*  Amy begins her book with basic health tips which are excellent adjuncts to a vibrant home yoga practice - dry brushing of your skin, dietary recommendations (adding a Reishi mushroom a day "can help keep the doctor away") and the importance of quality sleep..

*  You will find a wide variety of poses from which to choose - a total of 47 that are organized into 6 different sequences.  Each of the sequences has a different aim-such as practicing yoga to become ageless, achieving serenity, or overcoming pain.

*  Amy shares my philosophy of never pushing yourself through pain and she agrees with my tenet that "slow mo' is the way to go." She says, "Don't blast through yoga poses.. Do them mindfully, gently, and slowly."

*  The illustrations of the yoga poses are cute, non-intimidating, and inviting - highly encouraging for the beginning yogi!  You will find humor infused throughout the book - much welcome levity for the new yogi who may feel tentative about a yoga practice.

*  Amy offers easier options for the more challenging poses so that everyone can benefit even if they are less "athletic" or physically "challenged" in some way.

As you must know from the 8+ years that I have been writing this yoga blog, yoga can indeed come to the rescue for so many of life's challenges.  And, Amy Luwis' book (in addition to my book!!), in my opinion, is one of the best you can find to get your started or to enhance your existing practice.  Go buy yourself a copy today!

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Yoga at Home Beginners Coach

 

 

 

 

Yoga at Home: Sharing Yoga with My College Classmates

 

A week ago (June 4, 2017), I had fun sharing my daily yoga practice with my Wellesley College classmates.  In the above 2 photos, I demonstrate the bow and the half-locust poses.

I try to avoid using cliches, however, it's hard not to focus on how the years have zipped by when you attend your 40th college class reunion. As one of my classmates exclaimed, "where did 40 years go?!"

No matter how many years go by and as long as I possibly can, hopefully, until the day I "dance off the planet" (as 97-year young yoga instructor, Tao-Porchon Lynch says what she plans to do when her time is up), I will continue to practice yoga.

During the plans for the reunion, I was asked to give a yoga class and I agreed, emphasizing that I would share SLOW, GENTLE poses best suited to beginners, period.  And, that's what I did in the 45-minute session on a (finally, after numerous gray days) bright, sunny Sunday.

At the beginning of the class I shared my key tenets of a daily home yoga practice:

1)  "Slo' mo is the way to go" - I move into and out of yoga poses slowly and deliberately.  This allows you to really FEEL the pose.

2)  "The power of the pause" - take a short break (often going into the "child pose" as a relaxation poses between other poses) between each pose to allow your muscles to regroup and recover from a stretch.

3) "No pain or strain is all gain" in a gentle hatha yoga practice.  Challenge yourself, but never push, tug, or force your body into a pose.  A few years ago, according to an article in the Yoga Journal, over 16,000 people enter emergency rooms every year because of injuries sustained in a yoga class - no doubt the result of trying to go further than the body was ready to do

4)  Inhale and exhale deeply while practicing.  Synchronizing your breath with your movements enhances the energy boost you gain after a yoga session.

Some of my classmates are real athletes. Others may have not done too much physical exercise recently.

Whatever level they were, my classmates enjoyed the poses I shared - as apprehensive as I was in providing instruction that may have been "too basic".  I received many compliments after the class. People told me how great they felt.

One classmate told me that during the final Savasana pose (the sponge pose I call it - when you lie on your back and totally relax for several minutes at the end of a session), as she listened to the relaxing yoga music -  strong feelings welled up inside her.  And a gush of tears flowed.  Yes - in addition to its physical benefits, yoga can at times, release a much needed emotional release of pent up feelings.

In sharing my yoga practice with my college classmates, I realized once again, that indeed, you do not have to do the most complex, pretzel yoga poses to benefit greatly from yoga.  Start with wherever you are, move gently, and consistently,  inhale and exhale deeply, and you may just forget that 40 years have elapsed since you finished college!

Yours for enjoying gentle hatha yoga, 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the yoga at home coach for beginners

 

 

 

Teaching Yourself Yoga: Arm and Leg Stretch-Another Balance Pose

The arm and leg stretch is a yoga balance pose I alternate with the Eagle pose.

Greetings fellow at home yogis!

As I said in last week's refresher on the Eagle Pose, improving balance is important. And, I was drawn to this pose because of its promised benefits to increase "balance, poise, and grace."

Back in 1970, when I first began to learn yoga, I found the arm and leg stretch yoga pose in the book, Yoga for Beauty and Health by Eugene Rawls and Eve Diskin. My two copies of this "ancient" tome are falling apart-- the pages are yellowed and frayed. Nevertheless, the teachings in this book are timeless!  Most impressive to me was the authors' assertion that:

"Our lack of normal physical activity results in the diminishing of our sense of balance, and it is this loss of the normal sense of balance that is responsible for the impairment of grace and poise..." 

However, when you improve your balance with the arm and leg stretch and other balance poses, Rawls and Diskin claiim that you regain natural poise and grace, and in turn, increased self-confidence. Moreover, you gain a "lightness" of being and energy throughout your entire being.  I have experienced this myself, even if I have not perfected the pose.

Need any more convincing to try this pose? I would think not!  Instructions follow.  Enjoy! 

 

Yoga Arm and Leg Stretch

Type of yoga pose:  Standing

Body parts targeted:  Upper arms, legs, back, and spine

How to do the pose: 

1.    Stand tall on your mat with your hands at your sides, chest held high, abdomen in and your feet and heels together. Inhale and exhale slowly at least once.

2.    Gradually raise your left arm into the air until it is above your head but not completely perpendicular to it.

3.    Place all your weight on your left leg.

4.    Bend your right leg at the knee and slowly raise your right foot up until you can grasp it firmly, yet gently, with your right hand.

 

 

5.    In slow motion, inhale deeply and pull your right leg up with your right hand.

 

6.    Bend your body backward at your waist.

7.    Move your left arm as far back as is comfortable and without losing your balance.

8.    Let your head drop back gently and slowly until your eyes are looking upward. 

 

9.    Hold the pose motionless for 5 seconds.

10.To exit this pose, take a few seconds to bring your left arm forward while also releasing your pull on your right leg. Relieve the backward bend of your spine.  Come forward gently with your head.

11.Release your right foot and let your right leg descend to a normal standing position.  Lower your left arm back down to your side in slow motion.

12.Inhale and exhale slowly for a moment or two and repeat the pose on the opposite side.

Practice time:  Start by holding the pose for 5 seconds on each side during the first week and add 5 seconds each week until you can hold the pose for 15-30 seconds.

Number of repetitions:  1-2 on each side

Key benefits from this pose:

1.    Develops your sense of balance.

2.    Gives your spine a gentle, backward stretch that can be energizing.

3.    Relieves and reduces tension in the back and thighs.

4.    Increases your poise and grace as you sit and walk—leading to improved posture.

Special hints and my experience with this pose:

Stand tall and erect when you do this pose. Imagine you have the grace and poise of a swan gliding across a placid lake. Learning to maintain your balance during this pose may take a few weeks or months of practice. I have found that keeping my eyes fixed on a point in the ceiling can help. If you lose your balance, lower your arms and leg gently, pause, regain your composure, and redo. It helps to do this pose next to a wall so you can catch yourself and regain your balance if you start wobbling.

Sometimes you may suffer setbacks. No problem. This pose requires special balance and coordination – no wonder it’s been one of the more difficult ones for me to master. Some days I can keep my balance perfectly.  Other days I am wobbling back and forth like an inexperienced trapeze artist on a tightrope! 

Enjoy the stretch and have fun with it, regardless of how long you can keep your balance. Doing this pose makes you more conscious of your posture and encourages you hold your head high! You’ll feel more energized and confident!

Yours for keeping your balance with the yoga arm and leg stretch,
 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the self-taught yoga coach for beginners

 

 

 

 

Self-Taught Yoga: "Spring Clean" Your Home Practice!

 

 

"Spring cleaning" my yoga practice this year will begin with donating this 8-year old yoga mat to my local animal shelter!

We are almost officially two weeks into spring.  Perhaps you've begun the annual ritual of spring cleaning your house, your car, or you desk and files at work.

Did you know that it's important to "spring clean" your yoga practice too?  Why and what do I mean? 

Well, just like anything else, your can breathe new life in your daily home yoga practice by clearing out old energy and items and replacing them with with new items and new approaches.  The following are 3 super easy (and probably super obvious) but often forgotten steps you can take to "spring clean" your home yoga practice.

Step 1 -Get rid of your worn out, old yoga mat

For example, the yoga mat shown above, which I have loved so much and used for the photos in this blog and in my book, is at least 8 years old and it has served its purpose well.  But, it has faded and looks weathered - so out it goes this week to my local animal shelter ((animal shelters welcome donations of old yoga mats.  Although you will still see photos of me here with this mat - it's because I cannot schedule time to take new photos any time soon.. I will be ordering a spanking new yoga mat this week (I have a second yoga mat that is still in great shape).

Step 2 - Throw away or donate old yoga tops, pants, leggings

I am chagrined to admit that some of the tops I have been wearing for my yoga practice are at least 5 years old!  I did not spring clean my yoga practice last year or the year before (that's why I am writing this post - to remind and motivate myself!).  I have been wearing a favorite college t-shirt since my reunion of 2012 and my 2017 reunion is coming up in just a couple of months - enough of that 5-yer old t-shirt and any other old t-shirts, tops, and leggings that just don't look crisp, clean, or attractive.

Even if you practice yoga at home, alone, as I do and no one sees you and you think it doesn't matter what you wear - it probably doesn't....(I plead guilty to often wearing my PJs during my practice!). BUT and here's a big BUT, wearing an attractive new yoga outfit does wonders for your motivation and energy throughout your practice - really - it does!

Step 3 - Learn a new pose or two (or three)

I am making a commitment to learning and/or doing poses that I have not included in my daily practice.  Although I have a natural sequence of a selected set of yoga poses that I do daily, it's important to change things up and change the order around as well as start learning new poses to challenge yourself.  I'm not talking about forcing yourself into trying to master those pretzel poses you always see splashed in the media in articles about yoga.  What I mean is just as you should occasionally learn new recipes to add to your home menu, look up, study, and try a new yoga pose to add to your daily practice.  Learning a new poses "spring cleans" your practice by infusing it with new energy.  Perhaps you can also eliminate a yoga pose that you don't happen to enjoy or that is not suited to your particular physique.

Just as spring cleaning your home can boost your energy (it does mine, every time), spring cleaning your home yoga practice will re-inspire and energize your practice and motivate you to "keep on keeping on" with yoga.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, Yoga at Home Coach for Beginners

 

 

 

 

Yoga at Home: Announcement to Blog Subscribers

Greetings Do Yoga At Home Now subscribers! 

As you probably have noticed, my blog posts have become much less frequent.  I apologize  - but there is a reason for this.  I do truly believe that a daily yoga home practice is a wonderful way to ensure that you maintain energy, flexibility, and serenity in your life.

As such, I walk my talk and I continue to practice yoga at home 6-7 times a week.  On the rare occasion that I miss two days in a row, I feel the dip in my mood and my body starts rebelling!

However, as I have mentioned numerous times since I began this yoga blog in January 2008, I am not a yoga instructor.  I am a self-taught yogi who just shares her experiences to hopefully encourage others who feel klutzy or do not like classroom instruction to embrace the benefits of yoga by practicing yoga at home. 

In recent years, I have been pursuing training as an intuition coach/professional tarot reader and this is taking much of my time.  Therefore, it is difficult for me to write yoga at home blog posts more than occasionally and definitely not as frequently as I did in the past. 

I do intend to keep this yoga blog site live, however.  And, whenever I can, I will continue to share my perspectives on a home yoga practice.  It will just not happen regularly.

For those of you who have an interest in intuition/tarot readings for objective insights, I am working on www.AwakenYourIntuitionNow.com.  Please note, this website is not yet live.  When it is live, I will let you know.  I will send an initial announcement to all my yoga blog subscribers.  But, only once, you can be sure. 

Keep on practicing yoga at home no matter what!  And, always feel free to ask a question or drop me a line at laura@athomeyoga.info.  I also ALWAYS welcome guest yoga blog posts.

Yours for gaining energy, flexibility, and serenity in 20-30 minutes a day with a daily yoga practice at home.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yoga Home Practice Tips

 

 

I recently received a new review of my book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a day which you can buy on Amazon.com. The reviewer shared her positive experience in creating a home yoga practice since reading my book.  Watch the 3-minute video below for details!

 

 

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach

  ^TM

Yoga for Beginners: 20+ Million Americans "Practice" Yoga

I practice the locust post six times a week.  I believe yoga is a lifestyle and that daily practice (5-6 times per week) is vital for maximum benefits.

Recently, at work I came across an article discussing the recent profit margins of Lululemon Athletica, an upscale yoga apparel company.  Last year, Luluemon gained notariety when its store managers required women to prove that the yoga pants they had bought were too see-through. When these customers returned the pants to the store, they reportedly had to don the pants and show their derrieres to demonstrate just how see-through the fabric was to receive a refund. This apparent lapse in managerial judgment likely led to a decrease in Lululemon's store foot traffic the following year. 

Nevertheless, Lulemon's sales have remained healthy and its profit margins strong. This, the article postulated, can be partly explained by our nation's "obsession" with yoga.  According to the most recent "Yoga in America" study conducted by the Harris Interactive Bureau, the number of Americans who practice yoga rose 29 percent to 20.4 million in 2012 (which equates to 8.7 percent of U.S. adults) from 15.8 million in 2008.  In addition, yoga practitioners spend $10.3 billion a year on classes and products, including equipment, clothing, vacations, and media, almost double the $5.7 billion spent in 2008.

Impressive.  Yet, I wonder how the survey defined yoga "practice."  Although it is encouraging to note the substantial rise in people who say they pratice yoga, I am a bit skeptical about what those numbers really mean.

According to the study, 38.4 percent of the practitioners have practiced yoga for one year or less; 28.9 percent have practiced for one to three years, and 32.7 percent have practiced three years or more. Other data reported concerned gender (82.2 percent of yoga practitioners are women and 17.8 percent are men) and level of practice (44.8 percent consider themselves beginners; 39.6 percent consider themselves intermediate, and 15.6 percent consider themselves expert/advanced).

The survey also asked for the major reasons for beginning yoga and the responses were: flexibility (78.3 percent), general conditioning (62.2 percent), stress relief (59.6 percent), improve overall health (58.5 percent) and physical fitness (55.1 percent).

As I have often stated, my experience with yoga has taught me that daily practice for at least 20-30 minutes is essential for gaining the maximum benefits listed above from yoga. On the rare occasion that I miss two days in a row of practice, I feel an immediate difference in my body.  I am stiffer and less energetic.

Granted, going to a 60-90 minute class once or twice a week is helpful and definitely better than not doing yoga at all.  However, I am acquainted with people who do this and I do not see them fully reaping the rewards yoga can bring. Just as people who say they jog or swim for exercise - how often they do so and for what length of time is more significant in determining if they are an actual runner or swimmer.

Consequently, I would like to see the next "Yoga in America" study also ask how often and how much time every week the yoga practitioners actually practice. Assuming they tell the truth, that would be a more meaningful gauge of how many Americans are truly doing yoga, in my not always humble opinion.

Yours for doing daily yoga for maximum gain,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach

  ^TM

Also see:  http://www.DoYogaAtHomeNow.com

 

Yoga at Home: How Often Should You Repeat a Pose (Video)?

 

Greetings yoga beginners! 

Today I bring you my first effort at video blogging. 

Please excuse some of the kinks - it's a learning process!  I just bought a device at the Apple store to prevent the shakiness (which is hard to avoid when your are videotaping yourself!).

Yours for doing yoga at home to gain energy, flexibility, and serenity!

 

 

  

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach

  ^TM

Also see:  http://www.DoYogaAtHomeNow.com

 

Yoga at Home: Some Consider Yoga Sacred and Private Like Sex

Recently, one of my business colleagues revealed an interesting reason for doing yoga at home.  It's "sacred and private like sex," he told me.  Hmm. I never thought of it that way.  Born in Romania where yoga (and other practices like the martial arts) were not practiced in public when he was growing up, he taught himself yoga from a detailed book by Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda in the privacy of his home.

When my colleague moved to the United States, he was surprised and amused to learn that people learned yoga in group classes. He told me that it would be too distracting for him to have people on either side or in front or behind him in a class, especially if they were good-looking women!  In all seriousness though, he attributes many significant positive changes in his life to his private home practice of yoga and meditation that allows him maximum focus.  If he had NOT started yoga, he said, he might have "ended up in prison." Years later, he still considers yoga sacred and private and therefore prefers to continue his practice in private at home.

Yours for enjoying a sacred, private yoga practice at home.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginner's Yoga at Home Coach

  ^TM

Also see:  http://www.DoYogaAtHomeNow.com