Getting Started: Creating a Comfortable Space

Before delving into the nuances of yoga, setting the scene for your practice is crucial. Preparing your space and body aligns with the very spirit of yoga — creating harmony within and without.

Setting Aside Time

Yoga doesn’t demand hours of your day; even dedicating just ten to twenty minutes can be beneficial. Consider carving out a specific time, whether in the serene moments of your morning or the calmness of your evening, where you can wholeheartedly engage in this rejuvenating practice without any distractions. Your mind and body will thank you for this self-care ritual.

Choosing a Quiet Space

The space you practice should be quiet and calm, providing you with a sanctuary to tune out the noise of daily life and focus on yourself.

Selecting Comfortable Clothing

Comfort is key. Choose clothing that allows you to move freely without distraction. It doesn’t have to be designer athleisure; old sweatpants and a T-shirt will do just fine.

Yoga Poses for Beginners: Starting Simple

Yoga is for everybody, regardless of age, shape, or fitness level. Here are a few poses that will introduce you to the wonders of yoga, even if you’ve never stepped on a mat before.

Child’s Pose

Assume a position on all fours. Move your buttocks towards your heels while extending your arms forward on the ground. Place your head on the mat or a pillow. This pose is highly recommended for relaxing the mind and elongating the back.

Downward-Facing Dog

From Child’s Pose, tuck your toes, lift your hips up and back, straightening your legs. Your body should resemble an inverted ‘V.’ Downward-Facing Dog is renowned for strengthening the entire body, stretching the hamstrings, and relieving stress.

Warrior I

Assume a lunge position with your right foot forward, transitioning from a Downward-Facing Dog pose. Raise your arms to the sky with palms facing each other. This pose strengthens the legs and back while revitalizing the entire body.

Benefits of Occasional Practice: Mind and Body Harmony

Engaging in yoga occasionally might not transform your life overnight, but the cumulative effects will undoubtedly create a more profound sense of balance and wellbeing.

Stress Relief

The controlled breath and the mindful focus on the present moment inherent in yoga serve as powerful tools for effective stress management. Choose yoga that helps with your other fitness goals. By engaging in just ten minutes of yoga practice, individuals can experience a significant release of tension, promoting relaxation and overall well being.

Flexibility Improvement

Each session you complete, regardless of infrequency, will contribute to an increase in flexibility. Over time, poses will become more accessible, and you’ll notice less creaking and straining in your daily movements.

Mindfulness Enhancement

The seemingly simple act of practicing mindfulness translates off the mat and into everyday life. It involves being fully present in the moment, tuning into your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings with heightened awareness. By cultivating this acute awareness, individuals can effectively reduce anxiety, enhance cognitive function, and foster a deeper connection with themselves and their world.

Incorporating Yoga into a Busy Schedule: Short, Simple, and Sustainable

For most of us, the barrier to entry with yoga (or any new health routine) is time. The good news is that practicing even occasionally can fit into your day with creative reshuffling.

Short Sessions

Sometimes, finding a full hour for yoga can feel impossible with a busy schedule, but it’s often easier to carve out just ten minutes. Platforms like YouTube provide a variety of targeted ten-minute sessions that cater to different needs and levels, making it convenient to incorporate a quick yoga practice into your daily routine. Whether you need a short, energizing flow in the morning or a relaxing stretch before bed, these bite-sized sessions can seamlessly fit into your day.

Online Classes

The digital age has revolutionized how we access wellness resources, making them readily available at our fingertips. Nowadays, many apps and websites provide a wide array of classes tailored for every level – whether you’re a beginner looking to start or an advanced enthusiast seeking a challenge. These resources come in varying lengths and focus areas, ensuring something for everyone’s unique needs and preferences.

Yoga at Work Tips

For individuals spending long hours in an office setting, integrating yoga practices can offer rejuvenation with minimal effort. Embracing a short yoga session at your desk, consisting of gentle shoulder rolls, seated twists to release tension, and even a modified Downward-Facing Dog pose, can effectively alleviate the stiffness and discomfort commonly associated with desk work. Incorporating these simple stretches into your routine can enhance your flexibility, promote relaxation, and improve your overall wellbeing in the office environment.

Conclusion: The Importance of Just Beginning

As we close, the takeaway is this: you don’t have to do yoga daily to reap its benefits. An occasional practice offers a supportive touchstone, a wellness ritual you can rely on when you need it most. The key is to begin and continue. Whether it’s once a week or even less, each session is a delightful opportunity to reconnect with yourself in a gentle and transformational way.

Yoga is a journey, and the path to its benefits is a worthwhile adventure, no matter how sporadically you step onto the mat. With every breath, every stretch, and every moment of mindfulness, you’re investing in your health and happiness. So roll out your mat, take a deep breath, and enjoy all that yoga can offer today and occasionally.

Photo Credits

First Image by javi_indy on Freepik

Second Image by diana.grytsku on Freepik

What is yoga?
Yoga is a form of physical, spiritual, and mental exercise. It is a practice that originated in ancient India. There are many types of yoga.

Hatha yoga
Hatha yoga is the most common type of yoga. It is a gentle form that emphasizes slow and controlled movements. This type is geared towards beginners or people who want a more relaxed practice.

Ashtanga yoga
Ashtanga yoga is a more vigorous form of yoga that involves synchronizing breathing with movement. This type of yoga is more physically demanding and involves a series of poses that are done in a certain order. It is best suited for people who want to work on strength, balance, and endurance.

Iyengar yoga
Iyengar yoga uses props, such as blocks and straps, to help you perform poses. It is a good choice for beginners or people who are recovering from injuries. Also, Iyengar yoga focuses on proper alignment and can help you learn to pose correctly.

Hot yoga
Hot yoga can increase your heart rate and make you sweat more during class. This helps release toxins from your body.

Kundalini yoga
Kundalini Yoga is an intense combination of rapid breathing and repetitive poses, often performed in high temperatures. It can be a good choice for people who want to lose weight or get fit quickly.

All types have a common purpose: to help people relax, reduce stress, and stay healthy.

Ways that yoga have a positive effect on the academic performance of students
Yoga is a mind-body practice that can help you relax, reduce stress and increase self-awareness. The benefits of yoga have been touted by athletes and celebrities alike.

Below are six ways that yoga can have a positive effect on the academic performance of students.

Emotion regulation
When students can effectively regulate their emotions, they are better able to stay focused and on task. Yoga can help improve emotion regulation skills. Students who practice yoga are less reactive emotionally and more responsive, which leads to improved academic performance.

A study published in the journal Emotion looked at the impact of a 12-week yoga intervention on emotion regulation skills in adolescents. The study found that the yoga group had improved emotional awareness, self-regulation, and social skills compared to the control group.

Reduced anxiety and tension
Yoga is an effective way to reduce anxiety and tension, which can often interfere with academic performance. When we’re feeling stressed or anxious, it’s difficult to focus on anything else. Yoga can help us to calm down and focus on the task at hand.

In addition, yoga can help us to develop a sense of mastery over our bodies and minds, which can boost our confidence and increase our productivity.

Fewer problem behaviors
Yoga has been shown to reduce problem behaviors in children, including aggression and attention problems. In addition to increasing self-regulation, yoga can also help a child deal with stressful events by encouraging mindfulness of their body’s physical sensations and helping them find relaxation techniques that work for them.

One study found that yoga led to a significant reduction in problem behaviors such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and aggressive behavior. When students are less restless and disruptive in class, it can lead to an overall improved learning environment for everyone.

Physical well-being
Practicing yoga can improve physical well-being. This has a positive effect on the academic performance of students because their body is better able to cope with stress and they are more alert in class.

Also, yoga can help with conditions such as asthma, migraines, and back pain which can affect academic performance.

Positive body image, self-confidence, and self-esteem
Yoga can help students develop a positive body image, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Students with these qualities are more motivated to do well in school and less likely to engage in risky behavior like drug use or something else.

Also, yoga helps students learn how to listen to their bodies so they know when something is wrong or if they need to rest. For example, some students may have trouble with math concepts but after practicing yoga regularly for several months or years, these same students may find that math problems become easier because they are more focused and relaxed.

Yoga tips for beginners
If you are a beginner, it is important to start with a few simple postures or asanas. Also, take time to study the various common postures before you get started.

The first step is to find an appropriate space where you can perform these exercises without any problem. Make sure the place is well-ventilated and there are no obstacles in your way.

Start by warming up your body with a few simple stretches. Then, slowly move on to the basic postures. Remember to take it easy and go at your own pace. Do not push yourself too hard in the beginning. As you get used to the postures, you can increase their difficulty level.

Lastly, cool down your body with a few more stretches and relax for some time.

There are several yoga classes that you could join to learn these exercises from an experienced teacher or instructor.

You can also perform a few simple postures on your own at home, no matter where you are or what time it is. This will help you get used to the exercises and their benefits before joining a class or going to an instructor.

Conclusion
A healthy mind and body are the keys to success in all areas of life, including academics. If you want to be productive, then you need to make sure that your mental health is in good condition.
This can only happen when both your mind and body are functioning at their optimal levels. Yoga helps achieve this balance between physical fitness and mental wellbeing.

Hence, you should incorporate this practice into your daily life if you want to be successful at school or university. It will not only improve your physical health but also enhance your academic performance by increasing concentration levels and helping you manage stress effectively.

Sources:

Yasmin Janjhua, Rashmi Chaudhary, Nishant Sharma, and Krishan Kumar. A study on the effect of yoga on emotional regulation, self-esteem, and feelings of adolescents. – J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Jul; 9(7): 3381–3386.

C. Ferreira-Vorkapic, J. M. Feitoza, M. Marchioro, J. Simões, E. Kozasa, and S. Telles. Are There Benefits from Teaching Yoga at Schools? A Systematic Review of Randomized Control Trials of Yoga-Based Interventions. – Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:345835. doi: 10.1155/2015/345835. Epub 2015 Sep 28.

Photo Credits

Photos are from pixabay

Guest Author Bio
Liam Mills

Liam Mills is a Product Expert and ex-Supplier Quality Assurance Manager at Walmart, and the Founder of ValueHunta, a contributor to Heliotherapy.

Blog / Website: Heliotherapy Research Institute

As a member of yoga’s gender minority, who has practiced for over a decade and is now certified to teach, I have often wondered if there is more behind the gender divide, as well as the heavy focus on asana practice in North American yoga. While members of many spiritual and religious communities tend to emphasize the transcendent at the expense of the physical, the predominant theme amongst yoga practitioners appears to be the opposite. Whereas Zen students often get lost in their heads as they strive for enlightenment, the average yoga student is fixated on the appearance and general mechanics of their bodies. Given this contrast, I have wondered: Is it simply a coincidence that yoga has become a body centric and overwhelmingly female practice?

Simply put, humans have become too alienated from our own planet. It’s notable that yogic practices developed around the time this alienation seemed to be forming. Buddhism came later, with Zen forming as an offshoot some 1500-1600 years ago. For all the benefits we have received from agriculture, as well as the development of cities and societies, much has also been lost. The litany of abuse people have unleashed upon the earth, especially in recent centuries, is clearly a sign of deep disconnections, so deep that for some that they might destroy the entire planet in the long term, if it meant big material profits in the short term.

Probably from the beginning, this disconnection has been tied to the oppression of women. Ecofeminist Susan Griffin suggests that we have been living in a “bifurcated system” where the natural world has been turned into something in need of “mastery and domination.” In this system, emotions, vulnerability and tenderness have become “forms of submission.” In the process, women have been socialized “to be more connected with the body than are men, for whom this connection represents a threat.” Even the very ways in which we conceptualize and relate to the Earth have been greatly distorted, and used “to justify the social construction of gender.”

In the end, yoga and Zen are both paths of healing and of awakening to our true nature. Over the centuries, they have evolved in response to the needs of the people of that given time period. Today, more and more people are sensing something is off in their lives, and in the world, and are making an effort to right the course. This is wonderful. However, it is important to develop a mind of experimentation, recognizing not only that gender differences need be taken in consideration, but also that righting our collective relationship with the Earth must be moved to the forefront. The times are calling us to both reconcile ourselves, and reunify with the Earth itself. May we use our practices as a laboratory of healing, so that we may awaken to the fullest expression of our lives.

Image Credit

Silhouette Yoga at Wikimedia

The Chest Stretch

Upper back and neck pain affect many of us, thanks in part to long hours spent in front of computers. While that kind of pain is undoubtedly caused by tensed upper back muscles, our pectoral muscles have their share of responsibility as well. Tensed pectoral muscles cause your shoulders to bend forward and add extra strain to the upper back. Stretching them on a regular basis will greatly reduce back pain.

To stretch them properly, join hands behind your back, your fingers and palms pointing towards you, your arms straight. Push your shoulders back, stick your shoulder blades together and gently raise your hands while keeping your arms straight.

If you want this chest stretch to be even more intense, bend your torso forward with your hands still joined behind your back and your arms straight.

The Upper Back Stretch

Nicknamed “plague of the century”, upper back pain bothers countless people and is responsible for many injuries. What’s most annoying about it is it’s pretty hard to get rid of. Starting the day by giving a good stretch to those tense muscles will help you calm this persistent pain.

Start by turning your head slowly from left to right – as if you were saying “no” – then up and down – as when you nod “yes”. Next, bend your shoulders forward as far as you can and fold your head downward as if you wanted to touch your chest with your forehead. Slightly bend your knees and join your hands behind them. In that – awkward – position, stretch the upper back and the neck by pushing forward, as if you were trying to stand straight up.

Keep stretching for about 20 seconds, then relax and repeat one more time.

The Torso Twist

Twisting your torso will relieve your spine and relax your back muscles. To prepare your body to the relative intensity of a torso twist, start by rotating your torso from left to right while standing up, letting your arms swing freely. Then, lie down flat on the floor on your back. Bend your legs – both your hips and your knees should form a 90 degree angle. Spread your arms out on the floor on either side of your torso, also at a 90 degree angle.

Slowly tilt both your legs to the right side until your knees touch the floor, just under your right arm. Turn your head to the left. Breathe and hold this position for about 20 seconds, then rotate the legs and the head in the other direction. Repeat the routine two or three times.

The Downward Dog

This very complete stretching exercise has many benefits. It lengthens the back of your legs and your entire back, all the while gently improving your core’s and arms’ endurance. Getting it right may take a little practice – go slowly at your own pace.

Start on your hands and knees. Your knees should be directly under your hips and your hands just a little above your shoulders. Spread your fingers on the ground and really feel your whole hand pressing into the floor.

Next, curl your toes under so they are touching the ground and slowly unwrap your body, lifting you hips until your legs and arms are stretched and your body is forming an inverted “V”. Breathe into the position and allow your body some time to adjust. Your arms should be stretched out, but feel free to bend your knees a little and to lift your heels if you feel that the stretch is too intense in your legs. Keep pressing the floor with your hands as well as with the outside of your feet. Make sure you keep your shoulders low (don’t scrunch them up to your ears) and relaxed. Do not round the spine. Stick your tail bone out to increase the stretch. For every breath you take, try and stick your tail bone a little further out.

Hold the position for about one minute, then slowly and gently go back onto your hands and knees, uncurling your toes, and breathe.

The Child Pose

To relax the back and gently stretch the neck muscles after Downward Dog, the next exercise is Child Pose. Moving from your hands and knees at the end of Downward Dog, lower your buttocks so you are sitting on your ankles and calves, and then let your chest rest on your thighs, stretching your arms out in front of you. Your forehead should touch the floor – if this is too intense for your back and neck, place either one or both of your hands between your forehead and the floor to be more comfortable. Still too much pressure on your neck and back? Close your hands into a fist and rest your head on your hands.

Breathe, relax and hold the position for about one minute – or for as long as your wish!

If done on a regular basis, this stretching routine should give you more energy and improve your flexibility. Just be sure to respect your body and its limits while doing it! Of course, when you stretch, it is normal to feel some discomfort, especially if your muscles are really tense. This discomfort should never become pain and you should never feel dizziness or cramps. You’ll get the best results by going slow and being gentle with yourself.

Photo Credits

Photos courtesy of Mireille Mayrand-Fiset
With thanks to Catherine Gonthier for kindly accepting to demonstrate the exercises.

Guest Author Bio

Mireille Mayrand-Fiset
Mireille is a travel, music and theater enthusiast. She wrote for the stage and television, and is now working as a freelance blogger for Le Yeti, a Montreal-based bike dealer.

I hadn’t given it much thought until a yoga class some weeks back. We were to hold our arms straight up and above our heads. As you might imagine, after a minute or two holding the posture grew challenging. Usually I’d lower my arms, rub out the kinks and resume the posture. But on this morning, I decided to see how far I could push it. How long could I actually hold the pose?

A funny thing happened on the way to finding out. As I reached that I-can’t-take-it-any-more threshold, I remembered this was our third grade teacher’s punishment of choice. Talk out of turn or pass notes and off to the corner with you, spindly arms held aloft for what felt like hours. Couldn’t have been more than a minute but all it took was once to bring you into line.

As I held the posture that morning in yoga class, third grade came rushing back: where my desk was (Jimmy Brantley behind me, Cindy Wright in front); the wide uneven wooden floor boards; the multi-paned window that spanned nearly the entire back wall of the classroom overlooking two enormous oaks in the front of the school yard; the heavy green plastic window shade blocking the afternoon sun. I hadn’t thought of the cloakroom in years, nor the covered brick archway that led into the building, nor the water fountain right outside the girls’ bathroom. The bathroom with the windows that looked down upon a courtyard and the windowed breezeway that connected the older part of the school with the newer. It was all right there. I could have held my arms up all morning. All discomfort vanished, replaced by a delightful rush of memory.

So that’s what it meant to release cellular memory. What it means to reconnect and transform it. Who knew all of those third grade memories were still there? Like microscopic Las Vegases, what goes on in the cells stays in the cells. Except for those random moments of transformation when you move through the discomfort and hit the jackpot instead.

Photo Credit

Photo Courtesy Of Debra Darvick 

First published at Musings, Maps, Seasons and Asanas

Guest Author Bio

Debra Darvick
Award-winning author Debra Darvick writes, gardens, and practices yoga in southern Michigan where she has lived with her husband and family since 1984. With said family now scattered, and said husband now retired, she is venturing beyond the Great Lake State as much as time and budget allow.

Her newly renamed blog — Musings, Maps, Seasons and Asanas — features posts on writing and life in general, and will expand to feature travel posts and insights gained on the yoga mat.

Visit her website: Musings, Maps, Seasons and Asanas

Follow Debra on Facebook

Several years ago, while on a holiday, I picked up a yoga magazine with an article that talked about something called laughter yoga. I found it interesting so upon returning home I looked into it further but came up blank. Thinking no more about it, I filed it away as something for the bucket list.

Recently laughter yoga emerged at the local recreation center so I jumped at the opportunity to give it a go. Here’s what happened:

My first laughter yoga class is with a small group of six people. Check number one for my comfort zone. Our instructor, Kate, turns out to be an actor with her own stand-up comedy routine. I view this as an added bonus, as improv is yet another item on my list. The room we are in resembles a ballet studio, with one mirrored wall (we are told that if the mirror bothers any of us we should simply not look at it). Being used to working with a mirror at hot yoga practice, this is no problem for me, but I am impressed with the thoughtfulness of the instructor.

In a standing position, we start with some simple rhythmic clapping, with our hands over our heads in the air and then down by our knees. We begin walking in a group circle, and as we walk we add in the lyrics ha-ha ho-ho-ho, and our voices fill the room. I feel a bit self-conscious, but not enough to stop me from participating. Kate tells us that the yoga part of this activity is in the pranayama breathing.

The premise for laughter yoga is not only that the act of laughter is very therapeutic, but also that we don’t require anything in particular to laugh at — laughing for it’s own sake is possible.

I do quite well until we came to the exercise where we are asked to act like kids, calling out, Very good, very good, yippee. Now I come up against my wall of fear and inhibition, but I manage to ride roughshod  over the fact that I feel awkward and self-conscious. I press on and it passes. In fact, I start to get into it, and allow myself to actually have fun. This is something I definitely need more of in my life; in fact, it is the reason I am here.

I am lucky enough to be in a connected group with an insightful instructor, and we start to have a lot of fun together. In fact, that is another aspect of what laughter yoga is about: reclaiming child-like play. As we greet each other with laughter, we dance around the room and work up a sweat as we oxygenate our blood and wake up our brains.

The hour flies by. In the final exercise, the group lays on the floor head to head in starfish formation, staring up at the ceiling with our feet being the points of the star. And then it begins. We find our own natural laughter and the music of it fills the room, taking over. This has been our instructor’s goal all along. I am experiencing firsthand just how contagious laughing can be as I listen to the people around me and how funny the laughter sounds. I am in stitches, with tears in my eyes.

Yes, when we chuck our inhibitions and slice through our imagined fears, we really can laugh at nothing, and have a damn good time doing it. A good belly laugh really does tighten the belly too – so pass me another cup of laughter please along with a tissue.

Photo Credit

“What is the greatest joke you ever heard?” Photo by John Taylor

I’d like to offer two simple practices that I have found helpful for interrupting stressful, stuck experiences.

The first is what I call Sky practice. It’s very simple. If you’re a city or suburban dweller, chances are your eyes are almost always at human level or toward the ground. The human-made landscape around us reinforces this in so many ways. What I have found is that because my very eyes tend to be fixed on all things human, it’s that much harder to let go and experience the spaciousness of the world.

So, sky practice. Deliberately stopping and looking at the sky. Letting the sky fill you, until everything else drops off. Give it a try, especially if you’re having a difficult day.

The second practice is also for dealing with challenges, especially those related to rejection, failure, and stuckness.

What is it? Doing inverted yoga poses. It’s about flipping the world over, which helps to flip your perspective. I recognized this keenly while doing Sirsasana, which is considered the king of yoga poses.

However, any inverted pose can offer you the opportunity to see the world anew. Down dog, for example, is a pretty accessible pose for most people. Uttanasana is another one. Inversions offer physical shifts in the body, which assist the mind in shifting as well.

Do you have any particular practices you do to “flip your current life story over”? Please add your comments below.

Photo Credit

“Cloud” Deanster1983@Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

“Head stand” Runner’s World

“Downward Dog or Down Dog” women-health-info.com

As a male yoga practitioner, I have long found it interesting that most studio-based yoga classes are filled with women. Given the history of yoga in its various forms, and how men have dominated it, it’s quite interesting to see the reversal happening now. The core class for my yoga teacher training, which started last week, is split almost right down the middle — five men and six women. The studio owner was excited, and said it was the first time this had happened.

It makes me wonder what it is about yoga right now that has attracted so many women and, comparatively, not all that many men. I have some theories, but nothing that really feels like it addresses the whole works.

There has been some discussion online about the current issue of Yoga Journal, which has a man on the cover for the first time in nearly a decade. Media representations of yoga certainly have played a role in the great disparity in numbers between male and female yoga practitioners.

The discussion over at the blog Yoga Dork has an interesting mix of views. If you want to read a few rants by yours truly about consumerism, racial and gender stereotypes, it’s there in the comments as well. Here is a snippet from the original post:

“Meet LA yoga teacher and George Clooney’s cousin’s doppelganger, Matt Pesendian. Rumor has it this is the first time in 8 years a male yogi has graced the glossy face of YJ [Yoga Journal]. Congratulations! Men are yogis, too, even if some still think ‘that shit is hard.’”

Yet, as another commenter deftly pointed out, this yoga thing is also about accessibility. Matt doesn’t teach a separate “meat and potatoes” dude yoga, but he is, essentially, a man who practices yoga — it’s a helpful thing when yoga culture in the West is fem-dominated. (It is. See Yoga Journal.)

So sure, it’s easy to pick on YJ, which is currently the biggest publication of yoga representation. In all fairness, we have certainly seen men featured within the pages here and there, and naturally we admire this gent, but you tell us, does this help you men out there more inclined to get the yoga-ing?

If you’re a man, have you avoided yoga because of some sense that it’s all about women? And what do the women think out there? I’d like to hear from anyone interested.

Photo Credit

“Yoga Class” Evan Lovely @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

Yoga Journal Cover featuring Matt Pesendian , March 11