Beginners Yoga
My Father is 59 and would like ot begin yoga to benefit his flexibility. Would you have any suggestions for beginner tapes I may purchase for him. Thank you for your time and any suggestions/help is greatly appreciated! Renee
While it is not essential to know of the roots of yoga, understanding them will help you attain a clearer vision of the principles of the art form. While almost everyone has a general idea of what yoga is and what the purpose of it is, most do not know of its history. Yoga is essentially a philosophy that comes from the practices of the religion – Hinduism. Although associated with a religion, yoga itself is not religious, but a physical and spiritual practice. The practices are growing ever more popular with each passing day with an estimate of about 30 million people in the United States of America practicing it regularly. With yoga becoming a trend there are a lot more people taking up the practice, many of whom have little understanding of the discipline. Beginners’ yoga sessions do offer a healthy introduction to the subject for such enthusiasts.
Yoga calls for the practice of posture and exercise routines to help in activities like general stretching, breath control as well as meditation to help boost one’s ability to accomplish certain physical tasks. Yoga is spread over many layers and, given the fact that it is an art that takes years to master, it has varying levels of difficulty. These levels are accomplished through years of hard work and physical stress – making sure that the mind and body are in complete unision. As a result, when starting Yoga, at whatever age, it is important to make sure that you start with the beginners’ yoga poses. Beginners’ yoga is primarily focused on helping lubricate and maintain proper upkeep of the many joints in our bodies. Because of the way most of us live our lives, some joints are used more than others. While this is natural, it is the rarely used muscles and joints that are more likely to be problematic once we grow older, as in your father’s case. The purpose of beginners’ yoga is to make sure that these joints are exercised and well lubricated. One of the biggest benefits of yoga is the fact that even elderly folk that may be suffering from some kind of disease or the other are still likely to be able to accomplish the movements.
Some of the more important beginners’ pilates and beginners’ exercises points that one should keep in mind include practicing yoga postures for a minimum of about 30 minutes to 45 minutes every day to maximize the benefit. It is also important that the stomach remains empty while practicing. Any food consumption must be done as much as 3.5 hours prior to practicing, while liquid consumption must be done a minimum of 1 hour prior. It is also important to make sure that you are wearing comfortable and loose fitting clothing while practicing the yoga positions.
Submitted by A on September 5, 2010 at 01:40
Hi Renee, your father has made a wise decision of selecting yoga for flexibility; it will also help him remain fit and healthy. If he is entirely new to yoga then it would be better if he takes some training session under a certified teacher to avoid any health related problems. He can even try some beginner yoga poses. After he is comfortable with it he can depend on the tapes. You can get these tapes online or in stores where you get other yoga equipments.
To begin with yoga certain things have to be kept in mind which is important like breathing pattern. At first keep things simple, slowly when you are used to simple poses try other challenging pose. The following poses are helpful for beginners – downward facing dog pose, garland pose, mountain pose, pyramid pose, extended side angle pose, raised hands pose, triangle pose, warrior pose I and II, cobra pose, easy pose, head to knee pose, seated forward bend, half lord of the fishes pose, seated wide legged straddle pose, staff pose, child's pose, corpse pose, goddess pose, happy baby pose, pelvic tilts, leg up the wall pose, reclined big toe pose, cat-cow stretch, cobra pose, lotus pose, half lotus pose, plank pose, bridge pose, tree pose and hands and knees balanced.
Submitted by S M on May 26, 2008 at 05:36
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