4 Common Misunderstandings About Yoga

Yoga is a very popular form of exercise and spiritual balancing, but it is also very often misunderstood by a lot of people.  This is almost inevitable when you consider the incredible popularity of Yoga as a discipline and the many different strands that Yoga has.  Quite often people have experience with one type of Yoga but not another, and as such they will base their overall impression of Yoga on what they have seen.  It is like people basing their impression on Germans on the most famous German they know - Adolf Hitler, or more recently the portrayal of George Bush internationally as the only example of an American anyone knows.  The truth is that Yoga can be very different depending on who you learn it from and how they perceive Yoga.  This article looks at some of the common misconceptions.

(Photo credit: GO INTERACTIVE WELLNESS)

Misconception Number One:  Yoga Is a Form of Exercise.

Well yes it is, but so is walking.  I can walk from my couch to my table and I can hardly claim to have done my exercise for the day.  The truth is that exercise is just the beginning of what yoga is.  It's closer to a combination of exercise, physiotherapy, psychology and spirituality all rolled into one.  As you come to master Yoga you will need to become more and more mentally strong, and most importantly disciplined.  If you can discipline yourself to do regular Yoga sessions, and maintain your discipline to do each pose for the prescribed time, and do it properly, then you will naturally become a more disciplined and organized person.  For some people this transcends to a spiritual level because they are so efficient at clearing their thoughts while meditating.

Misconception Number Two:  Yoga is for Hippies.

As previously mentioned Yoga can be a very spiritual experience if you become good enough at clearing your thoughts and concentrating whilst performing the exercises.  But you certainly do not have to begin with any certain type of spiritual belief.  Yoga is about aligning the body and the mind and the spirit through achieving inner balance. What that means to you is probably going to depend entirely on what your beliefs already are.  For some people it will be a spiritually freeing experience, for others it will be an effective way of de-stressing and achieving a level of calmness of thought.  Still others will claim that these things are one and the same.

Misconception Number Three:  Yoga is a Fad.
Recently there have been some very hyped up Yoga courses making big claims about what Yoga can achieve.  These are easy to associate with other 'fad' exercise crazes.  However Yoga is not something new and is based on principles that are hundreds of years old which describe exercises and poses that were probably being performed for generations before that.  An individual style of Yoga may come and go, but as long as people are still stretching before a game of football then Yoga is still being used.

(Photo credit: GO INTERACTIVE WELLNESS)

Misconception Number Four:  Yoga Is Too Slow to Help Me Lose Weight/Gain Tone etc.

This one is way off the mark, but we have been somewhat trained by the weight-loss industry that weight loss, and toning our body is all about hours in the gym and fast high-impact exercise.  That's simply not true.  Yoga can help with weight loss and in particularly toning for a number of reasons.  Firstly the exercises, while low impact and performed either statically or slowly - are still exercises.  While you use them you are using your muscles, and in many cases you are using muscles and muscle groups that regular exercise programs ignore. Building these muscles will gradually increase your metabolism, so that you are actually burning more fat even while you're not working out.

The second way that Yoga can be of benefit in a weight loss program is that it will increase your mental strength and allow you to be more disciplined with your food consumption.  When it comes down to it, pure and simple, as probably everyone knows, excess weight is a result of excess eating and not enough physical exercise to burn off the intake of calories.  Have you ever noticed how some people can eat donut after donut and not put on any weight at all?  It seems unfair, but it's a natural result of the state of their body.  Usually these people will be quite 'sinewy' and this muscle allows them the metabolize food faster.  That's the third benefit of Yoga in weight loss - as your muscles develop your body will actually become more efficient at consuming foods and processing them into nutrients and waste.

Hopefully we have now done away with the various myths associated with Yoga.  Bottom Line: Yoga is pretty much what you make of it, and it can have a myriad of benefits for both body and mind.

Helpful Yoga Videos for Beginners

With hundreds of yoga videos now on the market, you can imagine the diversity among them - you can find everything from nude yoga to postnatal yoga, and everything in between!

Here are a couple of generally good and helpful yoga videos for beginners or those relatively new to the practice. 

Healing Yoga for Common Conditions

This video promises to improve circulation, promote weight loss and manage the symptoms of diabetes and high cholesterol - all through reaping the health benefits of yoga. Without a medical study it's hard to say if it can really deliver, but the hosts, Lisa and Charles Matkin, come with good credentials.

They have taught therapeutic yoga programs at Beth Israel Hospital in New York and New York Presbyterian Medical Center, working with physicians in using yoga to help people with chronic injuries and illnesses.

The 35-minute video is designed to help you increase your metabolism, according to the Matkins. The couple begin the workout with Lisa demonstrating the moves next to a pool with an ocean in the background while Charles does the voice-over, then they switch, then switch again. Both have soothing voices and good form.

The workout is divided into three sections. The first deals with learning to control your breath. It's a pretty basic segment, teaching you breathing techniques and stretching out the body.

The second is for strength, and involves poses that are a bit more difficult, such as the warrior and downward-facing dog poses.

In the third section, you work on releasing tension and relaxation.

This is a good video for all fitness levels. The moves are explained well, as are the benefits and purposes of yoga. None of the poses is very difficult, and the instructors give you modifications to make the moves easier if needed.

Rodney Yee's Yoga for Beginners

Rodney Yee is known for his calm and relaxed tone, and his vigorous and challenging yoga workout DVDs. This one does offer challenges, but it also includes a great 40-minute segment explaining each pose and how to do it in more thorough detail than most of Yee's videos.

If you are a beginner, or just looking to brush up or get some more instruction, this is a great place to start.

The pose training segment is accompanied by two full-length workouts so you can put what you've learned into practice.  The 20-minute Morning Workout helps wake up your muscles, loosen any morning stiffness, and energize you to begin your day. The 15-minute Evening Workout stretches, soothes, and relaxes tired muscles, and puts you in a relaxed and peaceful state of mind.

For each workout, you can choose full audio instructional guidance through each pose, or simply prompts for the pose changes once you get more familiar with the workout.

Filmed in beautiful Molokai, Hawaii, this is a great introduction to the practice of yoga, and the two workout sessions are likely ones you will want to continue even as a more advanced student of yoga.


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The Three Steps of A Yoga Session

The benefits of yoga are well know to anyone who has ever tried the discipline, but if you are new to yoga let me recap.  Yoga is a fantastically popular and effective way of strengthening you physically as well as mentally and spiritually.  This last 'spiritual' aspect may turn some people off, but it's not something that needs to be associated with religion.  Really the best alternate word for the spiritual strength of yoga is contentment or happiness.  It allows you to be a calmer person and more happy with yourself.  Put like that it sounds pretty great doesn't it?

So you've probably heard a little about yoga and wondered what it's all about.  You probably have a few preconceptions and maybe an image of an old man with a long beard sitting in the lotus position springs into your head in automatic association with the word.  While old men (and women) certainly can benefit from a regular yoga practice, there's a lot more to it than that! So let's go through step by step what you can expect in a typical yoga session.

Step One:  The

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, Galleria dell' Accademia, Venice (1485-90) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Introduction and Preparation.

Most Yoga classes begin in a standing position.  There are both mental and physical reasons for this and they are closely connected.  The standing position is the most natural Human position there is.  Leonardo Da Vinci produced a famous scientific picture of the symmetry of the human body when it is in it's natural standing position.  The outstretched arms and legs can have a perfect circle drawn around them and this is true of everyone regardless of their height or weight.  What this means is that a standing pose comes naturally to us - we are not worried about getting it wrong and we can concentrate of the state of the body.  Breathing exercises will be a key part of the warm up stage for your routine.  This is the only time in your life you will be 'taught' to breath and it's a skill which allows people to restore calm to their bodies and thoughts.

Step Two:  The Main Routine

This is the heart of your Yoga session which will vary the greatest depending on what forms of Yoga you are learning.  While the individual exercises you will be doing are going to be quite different, the nature of them will be very similar.  This will mean moving into certain poses and positions and holding those poses to allow the body to stretch out muscles and muscle groups that in many cases haven't been given much attention during the week.  Some yoga teachers will talk to you about energy points or chakras.  These are important junctions in your body where congestion occurs and stretching them out allows energy to flow freely around your body.

Siddhasana, Yoga Asana, adept's or perfect pose. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Step Three:  Ending the Session

While the main session is about releasing pent up energies, this stage of your yoga workout is all about allowing that energy to flow around your body.  Many people have trouble with thinking about some strange mystic force that is flowing through you and driving it to certain parts of your body.  If you are one of them just mentally substitute the word 'energy' with the word 'blood'.  We know that the job of blood is to carry nutrients and oxygen around our body, and we know that if any part of our body is lacking in this supply that we will become ill, so it's not a huge stretch to think of blood as the mystic energy force that brings health around our body, and exercises such as yoga as being the method of ensuring the smooth and successful flow of that blood.

There are many different branches of yoga, but most yoga workouts will consist of these three steps. The poses and style of what is contained in these steps may vary, but all of them provide great benefits for your whole body. Check back later this week for some examples and a fun yoga workout!

3 Common Mistakes by Yoga Beginners

Whenever we start something new we have a certain feeling of trepidation and uncertainty of the unknown,  although in most cases it is completely unfounded and we get on with things very quickly and easily.  However, sometimes a simple little thing can cause us to have an entirely negative first impression and perhaps even never want to try that activity or pastime again.  Yoga has so many health benefits, on both a physical and spiritual level, that it would be a tragedy for anyone to miss out on them because they made a silly avoidable mistake on their first day.  With that in mind this article addresses the 3 most common mistakes of new yoga practitioners, and how to make sure they don't happen to you.

Mistake One:  Not Knowing What You Want From Yoga.

Yoga Class at a Gym (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The reality is that there are numerous different styles and forms of Yoga and each has it's different attractions.  Ask yourself what it was about Yoga in general that attracted you and then you can investigate a style that caters more specifically to that.  You may like to set goals, be they physical, mental or spiritual.  If you do then it's a good idea to discuss them with the instructor of your class before you begin.  Yoga instructors are usually very approachable and happy to talk about their passion.  They will be able to talk to you about your goals for the class and let you know if you are being realistic, aiming too high or too low.  Make sure you goal includes a time frame so it becomes something that is measurable.

Mistake Two:  Jumping In Head First.

Having decided that they will give this Yoga thing a try many people take a running leap and jump in to a 12 month stage-by-stage class.  These classes are usually an upfront payment arrangement and progress from one level to the next as the weeks progress.  They are a fantastic way of learning Yoga and becoming very good at it, but it's quite possible you will choose a class that is not ideal for you.

Yoga Class at a Gym (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The best way to avoid this is to join a Yoga beginner class, also known as a drop in class.  If you do these classes for a few weeks you will notice a high turnover of students as new people join and old people move on.  These classes are designed to give you a very broad feel for the different types of Yoga.  The level of the students in the class usually varies greatly so you can expect the instructor to keep the classes quite tame.  The other key benefit of doing this is that the classes are pay as you go so there is no big financial outlay for you while you decide the type and style of yoga that best suits you.  You are also not obliged to attend every class.  With the longer courses you can fall behind quickly if you miss a week or two in a row.  With the pay as you go classes you will find that while each class is different the level stays quite low to cater for the newer people joining in.

Mistake Three:  Choosing the Wrong Teacher.

Traditionally a Yogi had to be an apprentice to a skilled Guru for many years before he could teach even the simplest of Yoga techniques.  Nowadays a 3-day course over a long weekend is considered enough by some people.  There is a big difference in what you will achieve depending on the skills and abilities of the person teaching you.  Yoga is starting to make a regular appearance on the sports injury list and a large reason for this is instructors who have been taught just enough to be dangerous.  A qualified teacher won't necessarily be fantastic and an unqualified teacher won't necessarily be terrible - but the odds are certainly cast in that direction, so it's a good idea to check your instructors background and qualifications before you begin studying with them. Again, check out a beginner class so you can try out different teachers and get a feel for the teaching style you prefer, and above all - listen to your body - if it tells you not to do a certain movement, don't do it (or do it more gently than demonstrated).