Yoga For Beginners -Practical No-Nonsense Advice

A Word of Caution As someone who has learned the advanced stage of Yoga and been practicing it for several years now (as of writing this article in April 2010), I can very strongly advise you to NEVER EVER attempt practicing yoga through the Do-It-Yourself guides widely available these days, simply because Yoga does not work that way.

· Take it from me or leave it, but I have done this mistake once and it required hard work and a trained guru to reverse the damage by 98%.

· Yoga is a treasure house of health, peace of mind and confidence.

· Yoga must be learned from a Guru teaching it for decades to thousands of students.

The Best Yoga Pants Are What Are the Most Comfortable

The Pre-Yoga mindset

· Have a firm mindset to learn Yoga up to the advanced levels including Kriyas (more on this in just a bit) only from a trained guru.

· Have a firmer mindset to practice the asanas every single day. If you are not serious about this step, you may please go ahead and close this page!

· It may be a good idea to cleanse your body of all toxins (explained in the Kriya section) so that your body is flexible.

· Cut down on your junk and non-vegetarian food as much as possible. Is Yoga right for me?

· Age limit: 10 - 100 Years!!! (But do not start when you are 99 years old. The upper limit is applicable only if you start at age 30, max)

· Yogasanas do not need warm up! Sure, this is big turn on for anybody.

· If you do Yogasanas properly, you will never sweat. Boy, this is true!

· Do not strain (or aim for perfection initially) while doing Yogasanas; do them very slowly. Trust me, you are gonna have fun!

· Yoga is thoroughly scientific and so, follow your trainer's instructions ad verbatim.

· Try not to practice more than 30-45 minutes each day, preferably early morning. Oops, sorry if you are a night bird!

Moon Salutation and Its Benefits in Yoga

Postures and Practical Benefits

These asanas may be sufficient to begin with (under expert supervision).

1. Mathsyasana: A superb technique to relax and strengthen your neck, shoulder and upper back muscles.

2. Vipareetha Karani: An outstanding technique that relaxes and strengthens your internal organs in the lower part of your body.

3. Sarvaangasana: This is considered one of the gems of Yoga and has several benefits including putting all internal organs in harmony with each other.

4. Shavasana: Literally, the "Corpse" posture. It targets each and every muscle and perhaps tissues and cells as well and relaxes each one of them.

5. Virkshasana: Literally, the "Tree" posture; it helps to balance all the "Chakras" or glands of your body.

6. Nadi Shudhdhi Pranayama: This teaches the precise way of breathing to flush out toxins.

7. Kapalabhathi Pranayama: This is said to do the job of a Ventilator! But it is extremely easy to do.

How to Theme a Yoga Class

Kriyas: The Secret Health Chest

All these must be done strictly under expert advice/guidance

1. Body Cleansing: The enema procedure, this is ideally done before starting Yoga practice, up to twice a year.

2. Vamana Dhouthi: Meaning self-induced vomiting, this makes your body lighter and practically flushes out toxins. Frequency: once a week.

3. Jala Neti: Now called "Nasal Irrigation" this very simple technique cleanses the respiratory canal. Do it to believe it!

4. Suthra Neti: "Suthra" means thread. This technique achieves the same purpose achieved by Jala Neti Kriya.