I know that you have heard of Yoga, but do you KNOW about Yoga?
Yoga is all around us these days. From Sting to Madonna, to maybe even your next door neighbor. Everyone is hooked upon this fitness craze and with good cause.
As a form of physical exercise, Yoga indeed is a force to be reckoned with. But just how can one go about using yoga for beginners? It is my hope that this article will be of assistance to you.
I hope to provide you with some useful tips which may be helpful to you in using yoga for beginners.
Once you've sworn off of free-weights and exercise machines, you may use Yoga and other bodyweight exercises like Hindu-Push ups will keep you fit. (in addition, to your diet which will change once you start Yoga as a beginner.
I will now enumerate the yoga poses to be learned as a starter which can aid or supplement your knowledge from your yoga classes, books and or DVD's.
Yoga for Beginners: Yoga Poses to Learn first.
The Sun Salutations
This is the core of Yoga itself.
This exercise is a combination of Yoga Poses, breathing exercise, sunbathing, and Prayer. It is the warm-up for a yoga class or personal yoga session and is a combination of poses, 12 to be exact, that are performed in a synchronized motion with emphasis on rhythmic breathing.
They mildly exercise the arms and legs and are often recommended for obesity, depression, and fitness. Martial Artists, Indian and African Wrestlers perform tons of rounds of these exercises alone, so in learning yoga, for beginners, this will be a guaranteed must-know.
The Shoulder Stand
Don't be intimidated by the name. Even for a beginner, this yoga pose is a piece of cake. It is actually a very important pose, arguably the most important as its Sanskrit name (Sarvangasana) actually means the all members or all limbs pose, meaning that it affects all parts of the body.
As a beginner, be aware that some poses (such as this one) do have specific counter poses, so if you're taking a Yoga for beginner class or learning from a DVD, make sure you are taught these poses to counter-act and balance the effects of the Shoulder-stand pose on the body, these are the Bridge and fish poses.
The Corpse Pose
You've got to learn this Yoga Pose as a beginner. It is the relaxation pose that is usually executed during and after your session as a means of relaxing the muscles used for your yoga exercise. At the end of a session, it is usually done for about 15 minutes and one always comes out feeling refreshed after its execution.
Arguably, these are the 3 main poses you have to lay emphasis on in learning yoga for a beginner, but there are other poses that should be included as you go further. They are
1. The forward Bending exercises: Head to Knee pose, Plough Pose and Wind-relieving pose
2. The Back Bending Exercises: The Bow, Inclined Plane, and Wheel Poses.
3. The Spinal Twists
4. The Balancing Exercises: The Peacock, Crow, Side Plank and 4-limbed staff Poses
5. The Exercises in Sitting and Standing Positions
6. The Abdominal and Breathing Exercises.
Each of these groups has several variations on the root poses; however, here's a secret that would go a long way in aiding you as a beginner learning Yoga. Do at least 24 round of the previously mentioned Sun Salutations and the ease in executing these poses will come almost naturally.
There are several styles of Yoga to pick from. Seeking the right & best style of Yoga for a beginner might be quite difficult.
Iyengar Yoga seems to involve a lot of props that can aid until flexibility is re-gained or enhanced, it may be one of the easier choices to pick. Kripalu and Bikram Yoga may also be quite easy to pick up as well.
The 12 Week Yoga Burn Challenge package has been suggested to me. Check it out NOW if you want Yoga, health, fitness and weight loss in your daily life. I understand that It's like having your own Yoga Instructor in your home, whenever you wish.
One other factor that I must stress is the need to also pick up a Yoga diet for health, strength and to detoxify your body.
As a result of the symbiotic relationship that exists between Yoga and a proper diet, it will speed up an increase in fitness, weight loss, focus and the ability to execute these poses easily.
Though Yoga for beginners may best be learned from a certified instructor, your own practice will remain paramount for your mastery of this form of physical culture and there are tons of books and DVDs to help in regards to this.
Keep in mind that as a beginner doing yoga, you may still want to incorporate some body-weight resistance poses, that incidentally are still Yogic in origin. The Hindu-Push-ups and Squats and the Bridge are basically Yoga poses in motion.
This combination will see that you have mastered the use of Yoga poses to make a complete session. In each session, you are still burning up enough calories and exercising the muscles for both weight loss and fitness.
Pick up my FREE, “Lose weight with Yoga” Report 19 pages of Yoga enrichment just for you.
Doing Yoga is fun, exhilarating and extremely rewarding for lots of reasons that may have already got you researching about it. Needless to say, choosing this exercise, even as a beginner, will go a long way into making for a fitter and healthier you.