Yoga at Home for Absolute Beginners!

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: Iphone Yoga

 The wonders of technology never cease!  As far as my yoga practice goes, I am VERY low tech. Super low tech. I have learned at least three-fourths of the techniques I use and have adapted from books.  However, I am always open-minded about learning.  I have picked up some good tips from watchingyoga TV programs, videos, and DVDs.   I have checked out certain poses on youtube.com.  Some yogis I have met told me they keep up their practice on the road by watching podcasts on their Ipod.

Today's Washington Express paper (the free rag I usually read en route to work) had an article entitled "I-phone, therefore IFit?"  Although exercise podcasts aren't new, the article feature some new applications that the Iphone offers including one called Yoga Trainer Lite.  The free download application (NEXSTUDIOS.JP.FREE) features a daily yoga warm-up of poses that you hold for 45 seconds each.  Sounds intriguing although, I personally always have a challenge doing a routine while watching a video.  However, it probably offers a useful way to use your time enroute to a meeting on a bus, train, or plane to learn a pose and to keep you psyched about your yoga practice.

The program has one drawback - it's definitely not for beginners and probably not for self-taught non-athletes like myself as it includes very challenging yoga poses like the crane.  But, I definitely applaud any media that encourages daily yoga practice!

Laura's thought for the day:  "Surround yourself with yoga instructional materials - books, videos, and audios to keep you psyched and motivated to maintain a daily yoga regime."

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: Back to Basic Yoga!

 

Now, the pose above, is one I could never learn on my own!  Non-athlete and sometimes discombobulated person that I am, I would probably tax a yoga instructor's patience if they tried to teach me this asana.  I seriously doubt I could ever manipulate my body into this pose - at least not in this lifetime!  This is one of those pretzel poses that you come across so frequently in yoga magazines and that likely puts off many people who might consider trying yoga for its myriad benefits.

In fact, this month, in a short letter to the editor of Yoga Journal, one of the staple publications of the industry, a woman from my area, Washington, DC, laments, "I am always troubled by the Yoga Journal covers.  Oftentimes, they portray young, skinny women performed the most advanced yoga postures, which would discourage most women and men from trying yoga..." I could not agree more!

That's why I prefer the simpler, basic hatha yoga poses. They may not visually impress you but practiced consistently, they provide all the health benefits - relaxation, flexibility, and energy - that you could want without struggling to become an acrobat.  The above pose offers wonderful benefits no doubt.  I suspect, however, that only a small percentage of the population could master it, even with lots of coaching.  So for people like me, it's back to basic yoga I say!

Wisdom of the Day:  "Simple hatha yoga poses practiced daily can reap wonderful results."~Laura V. Rodriguez

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: More on Teaching Yourself Yoga

I keep running across stories of people who have successfully taught themselves yoga.  One woman in the UK, Nikki Page, writes that about 25 years ago her mother gave her a "teach yourself yoga book" which transformed her approach to fitness and feeling good.  Page attributes her ability to maintain a trim waist, thighs, and hips, becoming supple, and managing stress effectively to her yoga practice. She's a woman after my own heart who shares benefits from yoga that are similar to mine!

I wish Ms. Page had shared the title and author of that book!  It's not that easy to find user-friendly yoga books to teach yourself yoga and reap its myriad rewards.  In short, however, we can see that it IS possible to teach yourself yoga from a book.  Ms. Page states that she begins every day with a 10-minute yoga routine.  You truly can benefit from yoga just starting with a few minutes a day!

Wisdom of the Day:  "Once you discover how to teach yourself, your life will have virtually no limits."  Art Niemann, The Ultimate Lesson:  10 Point Guide on How to Teach Yourself Anything.