Yoga is a holistic practice that includes poses for strength, flexibility, balance, stress-relief, and muscle-strengthening. Most classes also include meditation and chanting to help students relax and feel empowered.
It’s important to know a few yoga tips before you take your first class. This will allow you to enjoy your experience and help prevent injury.
Listen to Your Body
One of the first things you learn as a beginner is that your body speaks to you all the time. Listening to the signals and communications it’s sending is key to avoiding injury.
Whether you’re feeling the zinging, quick-shooting kind of pain or a more subtle discomfort, it’s essential to know what the different sensations are and how they relate to one another. Learning to differentiate between muscle soreness, which is a good thing and a sign of healthy muscles, and actual pain, which indicates an injury, is essential.
It’s also important to understand that your limits may change from day to day. Just because you could hold pigeon pose easily in class last week, doesn’t mean your body is capable of doing it today. It’s ok to speak up when something is uncomfortable, and your instructor will be happy to provide hands-on assistance if you need it. They want you to enjoy your practice, after all!
Let Your Teacher Know
If you have trouble keeping up with your yoga instructor, try talking to him or her about it. They can help you find ways to make it work. They will also know if you should not be doing certain poses, especially if they are painful.
For example, if you have back pain, your instructor can help you use a prop or modify your pose to prevent injury. They can even show you how to do other postures if you have pain in a different area of your body.
It’s important to remember that your students might be new to yoga. Adding in too many poses can overwhelm them and knock their confidence. For younger yogis, this can have a lasting effect on their interest in the activity and may cause them to shy away from classes in future. Slowly introducing more and more complex movements will give them the chance to build up their knowledge and confidence over time.
Stay Quiet Before Class
It isn’t always easy to quiet the mind. In a world of exasperating news cycles, 15-second Instagram reels and overly opinionated people, finding stillness can feel impossible. Fortunately, there are ways to calm the mind and remain present while practicing yoga.
One simple tactic is to focus on your breath. By deliberately breathing in and out, you can bring yourself back to the moment and focus on the pose rather than the next thing on your to-do list or what to make for dinner later.
Another way to stay present is to ring a gong or singing bell and clear the space with sound before class starts. This can help students feel safe and centered before they enter the room. It can also be helpful to include a resting pose, such as child’s pose, in between more active poses to give students the option to take a break if needed. This can be particularly beneficial for new students.
Take Time Off
Taking time off from yoga can help you reconnect with why you started practicing in the first place. It can also help you find a more sustainable yoga practice. If you’re feeling burnt out, consider giving yourself permission to take a break from the asanas and focus more on the other aspects of yoga that are so beneficial to your health. Explore a new breathing technique, learn a meditation or chanting session or delve into yogic philosophy.
In addition to boosting energy levels, yoga helps relieve pain in the back, neck and shoulders (which are common ailments of people who spend eight hours or more at their desks each day). It can even reduce cortisol, which is released during times of stress but can compromise immune function and cause depression. Yoga can also improve posture, which can alleviate back and shoulder problems, along with other health conditions such as lupus, arthritis and fibromyalgia. It can even lower blood pressure and reduce the frequency of migraine headaches.