How to do yoga?

How to do yoga?

So you've seen your friends in those bright, fashionable yoga pants and yoga gear going out to do yoga, or seen those expensive yoga commercials or membership advertisements and are all fired up to give yoga a try. After all, it is making its ramp walk as the new hip fitness lifestyle. 

Firstly, you have to understand 2 of the most important benefits that yoga offers, to my limited knowledge at least. 

1. Healthy body:

We all know how yoga is an ancient Asian practice, and has been around for 1000s of years. We've heard of stories of yogis living up to ages past 100, and still ambulate with ease. These days, turn 70 and the biggest thing you need to worry about is falling and getting a hip fracture that puts you bed ridden, it is just far too commonly seen in hospitals. 

When you start practicing regular yoga from a young age, your body's musculoskeletal system gets fortified, right from the bone out to the skin, and every muscle fiber in between. Unlike weight training, yoga poses mostly encompass compound movements, engaging multiple joints and muscles. Hence, you oil up those joints well, keeping them lubricated for years to come, and tone your muscles and the tendons they attach to. You increase your bone density and delay osteoporosis, or brittle bones. And, as a by product, you look pleasing to the eyes :)
But there is more to yoga. It keeps your internal body, your organs happy and healthy as well. Detoxifying your liver, cleansing your bowels and regularising your bowel habits, treating chronic sinusitis and expanding your lungs and helping with pulmonary ailments, elevating your heart rate and keeping your cardio on point. Sure, yoga is yet to be backed much by science, but to a certain extent, a put trust in all our ancestors who walked this earth ages before scientists came. 

2. Healthy mind:

Unlike other conventional workouts, yoga incorporates the breathe into the poses and movements. And as you become more proficient in yoga, certain yoga poses require your mind to be aligned with your body, and your focus to be razor sharp to nail these poses. Yoga, with regular practice, is going to calm your mind, reduce anxiety and fear, and heighten your focus.

Now, how do you do it? 

With the advent of the internet, it has gotten so much simpler and accessible. 

1. You just need to invest in a simple yoga mat, and then invest some time everyday to get onto that mat.

2. If you are just starting out, DO NOT try out those pretzel crazy poses on youtube or the internet, you are going to end up in the hospital. Take it simple and take it slow. I would like to recommend 2 beautiful yoga youtube channels you can check out and stick to as you start off: "Yoga with Adriene" and "Saturnomovement"
Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
I would suggest starting out with the simple but highly tiring sun salutations, the fundamental set of yoga poses that will help with weight loss as well.

3. Enjoy doing it. As Adriene puts it, find what feels good. So, if something feels odd or painful, abort mission immediately. If you do it right, it'll be absolutely awesome after a few sessions. Your body will feel lighter and more flexible, your core with strengthen and you will feel more grounded and rooted.

Try it now, it only takes 1 second, and try to stick to it for at least about a week before making judgements and comments on the post :)