#BEGINNER YOGA HOW TO#

вЂњAre you feeling anything along your spine or the back of your straight leg? Anything in the bent knee?вЂќ

She notices your hesitation and then clarifies her question. But now tell me, not how you feel, but what you feel.вЂќДЄgain, you are not sure. You donвЂ™t know: you are a beginner, so you probably say something like, вЂњfine.вЂќ You notice your teacher as she comes over to you and asks, вЂњWhat are you feeling?вЂќ You look around and see what others are doing and try to copy them. She explains that the targeted area for this pose is the spine and the back of the legs. After this first posture, she offers you another pose: the Half-Butterfly, similar to the first pose, but one leg is straight, the other leg bent, and you fold over the straight leg.

#BEGINNER YOGA HOW TO#

She takes the time to explain why you are doing this practice and how to do the practice. Now, while you stay in this simple posture, the teacher describes who should be careful of this pose and what to do if you have any back issues or sciatica problems.

The teacher asks you to come into something called a Butterfly вЂ“ she suggests sitting up on a cushion with your feet together, allowing the knees to fall apart, and folding forward until you naturally stop. You have never done any yoga before and for your very first experience, a friend brings y ou to a Yin Yoga class. We must pay attention to minimize any risk of injury.) This doesnвЂ™t mean we should never get out of bed! It means we must practice with presence. (Yes вЂ“ injuries can happen in any style of yoga вЂ“ even Yin Yoga вЂ“ but getting out of bed can also hurt people. I have found more yang students (doing regular hatha, vinyasa or hot yoga) get injured than the students coming to the slow-paced yin offering. People know what pain is, what they donвЂ™t always know is how to pay attention to the more subtle sensations that arise in yoga asanas. I have since discovered that this was selling people short. My fears came from a worry that a beginner would not know enough to come out of the posture when the sensations became too intense, that they might stay too long and hurt themselves.

Years ago, I had my doubts вЂ“ I was not sure that beginners to yoga should start their journey with Yin Yoga. The student who is grounded and flexible will have no problem, even though she is new to yoga. It is this latter category that concerns teachers the most вЂ“ should a student who is inflexible and/or unable to stay present start his yoga journey with Yin Yoga? That is the real question. Students will have different combinations of these attributes: some will be flexible and grounded and these so-called beginners will have no problem with a Yin Yoga practice, while others will be inflexible and distracted and these students may be highly challenged by Yin Yoga. There are also beginners who are naturally very distracted mentally and will find it hard to stay present, and there are beginners who are very grounded and present and will have no problem with the mental requirements of a yoga practice. There are beginners who are naturally very flexible and will have no problem doing the postures being described, but there are beginners who are very inflexible and will struggle with many poses. This is a difficult question to answer until we define our terms: what do we mean by вЂњbeginnerвЂќ? To say someone is a beginner at yoga is not all that helpful. Stay! Stayyyy вЂ¦ But, for anyone who has tried this simple practice, you soon discover that вЂњsimpleвЂќ does not mean вЂњeasy.вЂќ It is sooo simple that anyone can do it вЂ“ but should anyone do Yin Yoga? Even beginners, who have never done any yoga before? Yin Yoga is a simple practice, very simple вЂ¦ just come into a pose, become still and stay.

Beginner yoga