Yoga for beginners: thoughtfully mastering asanas at home

Each of us understands the word "yoga" in its own way, and in fact we are all right, because this concept combines quite a few deep meanings. Yoga is a philosophy about the meaning of human life, born in mysterious India. Yoga is a spiritual tradition, experience and wisdom of many generations. The one of a kind lifestyle that gives health to the soul and body. This is relaxation, vitality and gaining self-confidence. And, of course, yoga practice is an exercise program that has become a popular part of fitness training.

A bit of history and classic yoga trends

The "biography" of yoga is associated with the name of its founder, the Indian sage Patanjali, who lived in the II century BC. e. Images of yoga poses contain Indian seals of the same time period. The basic and earliest schools of yoga are called Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga. Western countries learned yoga in the 19th century thanks to the British, whose colony India had long been. Today, spiritual and physical practice is widespread throughout the world. It has a number of popular destinations.

Yoga Patanjali

Yoga Patanjali is a classic doctrine of gaining control over consciousness, uniting the mind, formulated by Patanjali in his own work Yoga Sutra. According to his concept, yoga includes eight stages that must be mastered gradually to form a harmonious personality. By the way, living by these principles in everyday life is by no means difficult, as it seems at first glance. To do this, you need to cultivate charity in yourself daily, be honest (especially with yourself), seek and find joy in the little things, not waste your energy in vain, fully live, and not play any social roles.

Raja Yoga

Raja yoga in translation sounds like “royal yoga” and is aimed at working with the mind and consciousness. In other words, a person following the path of self-improvement becomes a king, a raja, a master over all his states. The basis of Raja Yoga is meditation, self-discipline and abstinence.

Hatha yoga

Khatga yoga is a direction about the harmony of the body, which is achieved by:

• asanas (pos) - physical methods of exposure to the body;
• pranayama - breathing practices of yoga;
• wise and bandh - Yoga exercises that control internal energies.

Ashtanga Yoga

Ashtanga Yoga is one of the most modern and effective hatha yoga systems today. Ashtanga yoga asanas are interconnected by vinyasas. These are conscious, consistent movements synchronized with breathing. It is believed that it is best to start studying the asanas of Ashtanga Yoga with the complex of 12 asanas of Surya Namaskar (salutations to the sun). On the basis of the most elementary movements for warming up body tissues and “dispersing” breathing, it is easier to master the system of “correct” inspirations.

Mantra Yoga

This effect on energy and mind with special sound vibrations. Mantras consist of Sanskrit syllables and possess individual characteristics, rhythm, and impact. A person who has reached perfection in the art of mantra is like a virtuoso musician.

Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini yoga is one of the modern types, in essence it is psychotherapeutic yoga. Complexes of asanas are aimed at raising female energy from the base of the spine, to get rid of anger and aggression, resentment, fear, memories and dependence. Also, the effect of kundalini yoga exercises is the transformation of sexual energy.

Power yoga

The method of power yoga, that is, power yoga, appeared in America at the sunset of the XX century, very quickly gaining popularity in our country. A sequence of dynamic exercises, vinyasas and pranayama, the implementation of which takes place under the calm musical rhythms. Power yoga complexes quickly return the body to good physical shape.

Fitness yoga

Fitness yoga is the most popular course of yoga these days, which competently synthesized the pros and cons of fitness and yoga, making both types accessible to people of all ages and levels of training. The synthesis of asanas with effective fitness complexes does not imply the study of the theoretical postulates of yoga or serious immersion in meditation. This is more of a practical part, an excellent method of maintaining physical fitness and tone without large power loads. With the help of fitness yoga, you can not only overcome stress, make the body fit and elastic, but also lose weight significantly, and create reliefs. A full-fledged lesson in fitness yoga will help to "get rid" of 400-500 kcal per hour.

Benefits for Mental and Physical Health

The benefit of yoga can be fully felt by everyone who regularly devotes time to it. The “side effect” of yoga is a good physical condition and well-being. However, do not take yoga as a pill or medicine that can relieve you of any disease. So what positive changes will come in a few months of classes? Yoga:

• relieve pain in the spine and joints;
• will return to normal the work of internal organs (cardiovascular, endocrine, digestive);
• significantly increase the protective functions of the immune system;
• reduce the risks of heart disease;
• improves blood circulation and stabilizes blood pressure;
• make the body flexible and gait graceful;
• improves the condition of osteochondrosis of the cervical, thoracic, lumbar spine;
• reduce stress dependence;
• give vigor and strength.

Contraindications

Yoga for beginners at home is available to anyone who wants to know it, the main thing is to be careful and not in a hurry to master complex asanas.But like any gymnastic load, yoga has some contraindications. Without prior medical advice, exercise is not allowed if the following problems exist:

• inflammatory processes and exacerbation of diseases of internal organs;
• hernias (intervertebral, inguinal);
• pressure surges;
• heart diseases;
• post-infarction, post-stroke condition;
• joint problems;
• body injuries;
• oncological diseases;
• postoperative period;
• ARVI, ARI and flu;
• fever;
• mental disorders.

A special point is postpartum recovery, when a woman’s body reserves are significantly depleted. Yoga after pregnancy and childbirth will help to quickly regain strength and restore hormonal balance, relieve emotional stress, speed up metabolism and lose weight.

How to act for beginners

Before you start doing yoga at home from scratch, you must set yourself up for regularity and motivated progress. Immediately asanas (that is, yoga poses) may not work at all, there may not be enough strength, breathing, and even patience. This is not a reason to give up, and the rush in this matter is useless. The path to mastering the yoga technique is purely individual: after a certain time, experience will come and the body will become more obedient. To start studying yoga at home, you need to understand two methods that are fundamental to practicing this spiritual and energetic practice.

Technique No. 1: Pranayama

The initial stage of getting to know yoga is the technique of proper breathing. Performing ten-minute sessions of pranayama daily, you will learn to consciously control breathing and energy. Indeed, prana from Sanskrit is translated as “breath, energy, life force”. The practice of breathing management in yoga is very important: it will help to relax, concentrate, get rid of stress and recharge with positive energy. The simplest pranayama is performed like this.

1. Take any comfortable pose with a straight back.
2. Inhale on a relaxed abdomen and exhale actively with your nose, alternating with holding your breath.
3. Follow the pattern: four counts - inhalation, two counts - a pause with a breath hold, four counts - exhale, two counts - a pause.

If you feel comfortable, do pranayama in three sets of 20-50 cycles. Or orient yourself in time - five to seven minutes with respite as needed.

Technique number 2: meditation

This is a technique for relaxing the body and consciousness, the next stage in mastering yoga. A selection of the following tips will help you understand the art of meditation and feel the “taste” of the correct state of yoga:

• meditate in isolation;
• meditate in the same place and at the same time;
• meditate daily for ten minutes;
• open your mind before meditation (gymnastics, light jogging or dancing);
• take a shower and create an atmosphere (candles, incense, flowers, quiet music).
• Meditate by facing east.
• Meditate while sitting, relaxing the body;
• keep your back straight;
• breathe slowly and calmly;
• the exhalation should be longer and smoother;
• in pauses, hold your breath for a few seconds;
• distract from thoughts and what is happening.

The consciousness of a person in yoga should be “empty”, but alert. You should not be put to sleep. Do not ponder the thoughts that come to mind, but let them go.

10 more tips

Having tuned in for classes, you need to learn the ten mandatory rules of a beginner yoga.

1. Theory. Yoga classes start with theory. Then outline your goals, determine what level in yoga you want to achieve.
2. Constancy. Consistency, regularity - this is the main thing in yoga. Decide immediately on the time of classes. It is believed that yoga should begin every morning, but many prefer to perform asanas in the evening.
3. Duration For the initial yoga classes, 15 minutes of daily exercises are enough, then gradually increase the length of time to 30, 45, 60 minutes.
4. Security. In general, the ideal option is to start practicing yoga under the guidance of a "living" teacher, trainer or mentor. But yoga at home is an independent lesson in books, video tutorials or online form. Therefore, to avoid injury, learn to listen and hear your body.
5. Relaxation. From the first minutes of yoga, learn to relax. Immediately you will have a lot of tension in the body.
6. Adequacy of nutrition. A balanced diet will give lightness to your body and flexibility of the joints, contribute to better concentration.
7. Limitations Do yoga on an empty stomach. Drinking during the performance of asanas is not recommended.
8. Clothing. The purchase of a special kit for yoga is not necessary. Let it be tight-fitting clothes made of well-stretched fabric. T-shirts and shorts for yoga are not suitable: when performing asanas, they will sag and crawl.
9. Hygiene. Before yoga, take a warm shower to warm up your body and calm your nerves. Doing barefoot yoga.
10. Health status. If you do not feel well, have caught a cold or some illness has worsened, this is an occasion to temporarily refuse to do yoga.

Yoga at Home: Asanas for Beginners

A set of yoga exercises is a static pose with a fixation time of the body from ten seconds to a minute. Yoga asanas do not imply movements, but only right breathing and proper load distribution. The maximum attention in yoga poses is given to strengthening the back and stretching the spine, the ability to relax in “twisted” poses, and focus on the sensations of the body. Acquaintances with yoga at home begin with simple asanas: they accustom themselves to self-discipline and are not too exhausting.

Camel Pose

Indications. The camel pose, which in Sanskrit sounds “Ushtrasana,” is recommended in yoga as a warm-up for the body (especially the back) after sleep. It is indicated for improving blood circulation in the pelvis, muscle stretching.

Execution Features

1. Get on your knees, located at the level of the width of the pelvis, hands a little back.
2. Exhale and begin to bend the body back, leaning on the arm, pull the other up. Hold tight buttocks perpendicular to the floor. Try so that the body does not “tumble” to the side or back, do not squat on your heels.
3. Lock the body for 15 seconds.
4. Change hands and repeat movements.
5. When finished, return to the starting position.
6. Leaning with your fists on the lumbar spine, bend the body back.
7. Measure in such a position for five respiratory cycles (or be guided by time: on average, women perform 18-20 breathing cycles per minute).

Chair pose

Indications. Utkatasana or stool pose, related to simple asanas in yoga, is recommended for uniform strengthening of the back and muscles of the lower half of the body, toning the abdominal organs, for weight loss. The pose is effective with flat feet.

Execution Features

1. Position - standing, legs - shoulder width apart.
2. Raise your arms above your head with your palms inward.
3. Slowly bending at the knee joints and slightly tilting the body forward, lower the buttocks as low as possible, simulating a sitting on a chair (to facilitate the task, adjust the "height" of the chair). Keep your arms extended in line with the body.
4. Hold in this position for 10-30 seconds.
5. Keep your breath steady.
6. Straighten and return to the starting position.

Mountain pose

Indications. Tadasana or mountain posture is recommended to improve posture, eliminate stoop, spinal and cervical "humps", get rid of rheumatic pains, restore flexibility to joints, strengthen abdominal muscles, and eliminate constipation.

Execution Features

1. Stand straight with your feet together. Your task is to evenly distribute body weight over the area of ​​the entire foot.
2. Straighten your spine, try to completely relax the body.
3. Tighten your knees as if you are pulling up the patella.
4. Pull up your stomach.
5. Keep your hands either lowered down or raised through the sides up with palms “looking” at each other.
6. To feel the whole body, imagine that you are stuck to the ground with your feet. Breathe freely.

Foot tilt

Indications. Uttanasana, as one of the mandatory yoga asanas for beginners, is recommended to normalize the work of the spleen, liver, kidneys, and female reproductive organs. It is indicated for malfunctions of the menstrual cycle, headache, nervousness. It requires mandatory inclusion in the morning yoga program for troubling back pain and a predisposition to osteochondrosis.

Execution Features

1. Stand straight, feet together.
2. Keeping your body straight, lean forward toward your legs as if you were folding. The movement is exhaled.
3. Relax so that your body hangs down under its own weight.
4. When the internal discomfort disappears, begin to reach with your hands to the floor. Try to rest your palms on the floor behind your feet, fingers forward.
5. Without bending your knees, continue stretching your back and arms, now striving to rest against the floor with the base of your palms.
6. Breathe calmly, stay in this position from 15 seconds to a minute.

Triangle pose

Indications. The pose of a triangle or Triconasan is one of the difficult yoga asanas recommended for strengthening the legs and back. It restores flexibility to the hip joints, most beneficial effect on the intestines.

Execution Features

1. Legs - wider than shoulders, feet - in parallel.
2. Take the following position: turn your left leg outward so that the knee and fingers look strictly to the left.
3. Spread your arms apart at shoulder height, turn your palms toward the floor.
4. Slowly lean your body to the left. Presenting your hands in rays, reach with your left hand to the little finger of your left foot. Keep your other hand raised up. Lock the body in this position for up to ten seconds.
5. Slowly return to the original position.
6. Now expand the foot of the right foot and repeat the "triangle" to the right.

Plow pose

Indications. The Halasan yoga pose will help with curvature of the spine, osteochondrosis, improve blood circulation, stimulate digestion. Among its advantages is the fight against fatty deposits on the stomach and hips.

Execution Features

1. In the supine position, keep your hands along the body, palms on the floor.
2. Legs lifted up to the chest.
3. While supporting the pelvis with your hands, do a smooth “roll” of the body back, mentally trying to touch the floor with your toes. Transfer body weight to the shoulders and shoulder blades, in no case to the neck.
4. Slowly return to the starting position.

Candle pose

Indications. Sarvangasana is the most important and useful asana in yoga, which is indicated for asthma, bronchitis, digestive disorders, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, menstrual problems. Stimulates the thyroid gland, eliminates the effects of stress, relieves fatigue, is a prevention of insomnia.

Execution Features

1. Take the starting position of the plow pose.
2. Lift your straight legs up.
3. Next, lift the pelvis and, supporting the body with your palms (in the area of ​​the shoulder blades), give the body a position perpendicular to the floor.
4. Body fixation time from ten seconds to three minutes.
5. Return to the starting position slowly.

Baby pose

Indications. A yoga exercise called Balasana is recommended to restore flexibility in the knee and hip joints, for complete relaxation of the muscles of the back. Can be used as a completion of morning yoga for beginners.

Execution Features

1. Sit on your knees, then lower down on your heels.
2. Taking a deep breath, tilt forward. Lower your head and body to your knees, “stick” to your hips with your stomach. Keep your back straight.
3. Stretch your arms along the body with your palms up.
4. Listen to your breath.
5. To get out of the pose, raise your head, and then slowly straighten your back.

Dead pose

Indications. Shavasan's posture for calm, rest and relaxation ends with all sets of yoga exercises. Shavasana is able to completely relieve tension in all parts of the body.

Execution Features

1. It is performed lying on your back. Hands extended along the body, palms up.
2. Cover your eyes, tighten all your muscles for five seconds.
3. Then relax as much as possible, mentally track your condition from the forehead to the heels.
4. Listen to your breath. Stay in Shavasan for four to five minutes.
5. In a sitting position, return the body slowly.

Mudras - yoga for the fingers

Mudras, or yoga for the fingers, is a healing system based on the reflex connection of the fingers with certain organs. In other words, the hand in yoga is a prototype of the whole organism. By weaving fingers into intricate combinations (mudras), we give healing “commands” to our body, redistributing energy waves. According to the concept of yoga, when the fingers are twisted, energy accumulates, if the fingers are straightened, the energy is released. There is also an effect on biologically active points. The optimal time for classes is from three to 30-45 minutes (three approaches each).

Mudra “Saving Life”

Indications. Pain or discomfort in the heart, accompanied by anxiety, heart rhythm disturbance, heart attack.

Execution Features

1. Place the bent index finger on the base of the thumb.
2. Connect the tips of three fingers: middle, ring and thumb.
3. Leave the little finger protruding.
4. Finger yoga for the heart is performed with two hands until the condition stabilizes.

Mudra "Understanding"

Indications. Common cold, sore throat, cough, runny nose, sinusitis. Mudra stimulates the protective functions of the body, significantly improves immunity, accelerates the healing time.

Execution Features

1. Combine the palms of two hands.
2. Interlock your fingers.
3. Move aside the thumb of one of the hands.
4. Surround it with the thumb and forefinger of the other hand.
5. Do the combination without tension in the hands.

The Mudra of Life

Indications. Excessive fatigue, exhaustion, impaired vision, heavy eye strain. Besides the fact that this mudra is very beneficial for the eyes, it helps to fight drowsiness no worse than caffeine.

Execution Features

1. Connect the pads of the ring, thumb and little finger.
2. Middle and forefinger - keep straight, folded together.
3. Do not tighten your arm muscles while doing this exercise.

Most people at the mention of yoga draw in their imagination a gaunt ascetic sitting motionless on the floor in a lotus position. Even if you are one of those who perceive yoga with distrust, try to leave aside the mystical and one-sided aspect of this practice. Try to learn yoga exercises for beginners, at home it is completely possible to do. Then you will understand that with the help of yoga absolutely anyone can achieve a state of complete harmony with themselves and the world around them. Just do not expect instant "dividends" from yoga. Understanding the benefits will come with time.