5 Things Every Yoga Beginner Needs to Know
By Heather Ashare - Yoga Expert for DietsInReview.com
Everywhere you look, the young and the old, the bendy and the not-so bendy are downward-dogging. It is estimated that more than 20 million people practice yoga, more than triple the amount just 15 years ago.
But for those who have never performed triangle pose, the idea of doing yoga amongst a group of flexible and sweaty practitioners can be downright intimidating. Rather than letting fear get in the way of experimenting with this ancient mind-body practice, here are five things every beginner yogi needs to know.
1. Start with an open mind. Forget about the cute yoga clothing and the custom-designed yoga mat, the real prerequisite of yoga is having an open and willing mind. Cast expectations, fears and inhibitions aside as you roll out your yoga mat and start your yoga journey clear from any ideas of what your yoga experience is supposed to look like or how it should result.
2. Flexibility is not a requirement. We have all seen the pictures of yogis contorting their bodies in pretzel-like postures. While the bendy practitioners are a fun ideal to aspire to, yoga can be practiced by anyone, the flexible and the not-so flexible. If you are someone who has been blessed by stiffness, you are likely to see the most immediate effects of yoga showing up in your hamstrings, hip flexors and the lumbar spine after just a few sessions.
3. Thinness is not a requirement. While many of the popularized yoga bodies, like Jennifer Aniston and Sting, promote the idea that only the thin and the beautiful practice yoga, anyone, regardless of their waist size, can practice yoga. In fact, in a large-scale study funded by the National Institutes of Health, yoga was found to help people shed weight or kept them from gaining weight. Yoga invokes a powerful sense of body awareness and mindfulness, which makes it easier to monitor portion sizes and food choices. Weight loss then becomes an unexpected but welcomed benefit.
4. Seek a qualified teacher. One of the unfortunate side effects of yoga's popularity is the rise in unqualified yoga instructors who have been quickly trained without a comprehensive understanding of the 5,000-year-old tradition. To avoid the potential for injury and misinformation, seek out qualified yoga instructors, preferably one with the initials RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) behind their name. This certification is a designation that the teacher has a solid foundation in anatomy and body alignment and has clocked a few hundred hours of yoga training and instruction.
5. Experiment to find the right yoga for you. With so many different styles of yoga to choose from, it can be a daunting task to find one that feels right for you. But, the upside to the abundance of yoga offerings is that you can take your time in sampling out a variety of different yoga styles. Many studios offer a complimentary first class so that you can get a feel for the kind of yoga being taught, the vibe of the studio and teachers and the demographic of the students.
September is yoga month! Learn more about this healthy practice:
A Beginner's Guide to Yoga
Most Popular Yoga Classes
Yoga Dictionary
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