Yoga For Beginners

Archive for the ‘Yoga e-Course’ Category

Let’s go ahead & get started today with “Part 5 – Advice for Beginners Yoga“…As you now know (if you didn’t know it when you started reading, that is!), yoga is a very interesting and ancient approach of uniting the body and the mind. It has proven health benefits, including emotional and physical improvements.

The chances therefore are, if you’re on the verge of starting a yoga program (perhaps at a local center or you’ve purchased a video or DVD and want to try it at home), you’re excited, optimistic, and anxious to get going!

Yet it’s wise to note that, before going into yoga practice, you should ask yourself some important questions. These questions don’t have a right or wrong answer. They are merely meant to stimulate your own thoughts and give you the mindset that you need in order to succeed as a student of yoga for the long term.

Here are the basic questions that you should ask before starting any yoga program:
1. What are my reasons for starting a yoga program? Are they realistic?
2. If my yoga program involves some degree of physical strain, such as certain postures in hatha yoga, have I received medical clearance from a qualified and certified health professional to ensure that I don’t injure myself?
3. Are my goals for pursuing a yoga program (or programs) clear and positive? Do I know what I want to achieve?
4. Am I prepared to commit the time necessary to really get the most of out of my yoga experience?
5. Are there people around me who might negatively try and talk me out (or mock me out) of pursuing this path of personal development? Should I either avoid such people, or ask them to respect what I’m choosing to do?

Please note that these are just basic questions, and this isn’t an exhaustive list. The point here is really that you should be clear and confident about your choice of experiencing yoga.

Let’s go ahead & get started today with “Part 4 – Different Kinds of Yoga”

Part 4 – Different Kinds of Yoga
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It’s funny to look at it this way, but one of the things that has promoted the spread of yoga in the west, is the same thing that can sometimes prevent someone from truly exploring it and therefore experiencing its health benefits. This thing is variety.

Sometimes when there is only one of something such as one idea, or one language, or one anything, it’s hard for that thing to spread outside of those who abide by it, agree with it, or simply want it to continue existing. Read the rest of this entry »

There is some very interesting psychology behind this that students of western thinkers (e.g. Freud, Jung, Fromm, etc.) will find familiar and, indeed, quite rational. When an individual decides to be happy, something within that person activates; a kind of will or awareness emerges. This awareness begins to observe the jungle of negative thoughts that are swimming constantly through the mind.

Rather than attacking each of these thoughts – because that would be an unending struggle! – yoga simply advises the individual to watch that struggle; and through that watching, the stress will diminish (because it becomes exposed and thus unfed by the unconscious, unobserving mind!). Read the rest of this entry »

As we’ve repeatedly pointed out in this book (and probably started to bore you with; sorry!), yoga is not a religion. It can be religious if one wants it to be, and it can co-exist with an existing religious belief. But yoga itself is not religious in the sense that it focuses on belief or faith. Yoga is a science; and indeed, in many places in the world (such as India), it is referred to as a science. This is not mere playing with words; it truly is approached as a science, which means that it is understood in terms of the scientific method.

Yogic science seeks to verify cause and effect, and build principles based upon objective observations. Indeed, in many places in the world, to be a yogic master of any credibility, one must be highly educated in the sciences, including physics and the biological sciences. This discussion on yoga as science is important for us to have here, because it allows us to sensible ask the question: what are the benefits of yoga? After all, if yoga is a faith or a belief, then asking this question isn’t fair; because it’s one that yoga can not answer in terms that we can objectively understand.

Yet (again…sorry!) yoga is a science; as empirical and pragmatic as kinesiology, or exercise science, which seeks to understand how the body acts and reacts to changes in the internal physical environment. And even more simply than any of this: each of us has a right to ask the basic question why should I bother doing this yoga thing? before we should be asked to consider experiencing it for ourselves. Indeed, while the experience of yoga can not be reduced to words – just as reading a book on preparing for a marathon isn’t going to actually physically prepare you to run a marathon – the goals and principles of yoga can easily be discussed.

Thanks for reading! The next topic I’ll be discussing with you is “Supporting a Healthy Lifestyle”.

Yoga does not see a distinction between the body and the mind; and this is an understanding that western psychology has also concluded for many years now (the link between mental health and physical health, and vice versa). If you’ve come to this book looking to understand yoga as a means to help your body heal or improve, then please don’t worry; you’ve come to the right place! Yoga is indeed a process that involves releasing blocked tension and energy in the body, and helping make the muscles, tendons, joints, ligaments, and all other components work to their utmost potential. Read the rest of this entry »