Beginners guide to Yoga #1

I for a long time have been wanting to adopt a discipline in my daily routine. One of the main improvement I wanted to do was the physical exercise. I been going for a jog in the mornings, but come rainy season I have to cancel the jog, and this resulted in loosing the consistency. I am not a big fan of push ups-pull ups and other exercises. Being a seeker of truth myself yoga was the option I decided to choose. I believe yoga way suited me better.

But then there is a problem, I have no idea where and how to start except of 2-3 yoga asanas which I learnt during childhood. Lots of questions pop-up in mind, can I learn yoga myself? should I look for a teacher? should I subscribe to some yoga online classes?. Finally I sat down and did some research looked into the sea of information... The 'Google'... especially YouTube and dived in.

Watched hundreds of videos and read many articles, listened to podcasts and philosophies. Wondered in aww on some people's transformations. After looking into many different practitioners, found a few whose practice was inline with their fitness and mentality and what they taught made sense to me.

After such research and online imparted wisdom, for me yoga was not just going to be about fitness, it should also had to be the door to next stage or at least a guide to a seeker.

After these research and lots of procrastination, I compiled a list below and started doing a half an hour session of few asanas daily morning.

Below are the asanas I been practicing: Initially I took up only the few which I found easier and slowly started adding asanas

• Tadasana
• Surya Namaskara
• Trikonasana
• Utthita Parshvakonasana
• Parshvottanasana
• Virabhadrasana
• Garudasana
• Vrikshasana
• Ardha Chandrasana
• Utthita Hasthapadangusthasana
• Anjaneyasana
• Adho Mukha Shvanasana
• Bidalasana-Marjaryasana
• Ashtanga Namaskara
• Dhanurasana
• Bhekasana
• Bhujangasana
• Vajrasana
• Mandukasana
• Balasana
• Dhandasana
• Bhadrasana
• Navasana
• Ardha Matsyendrasana
• Matsyendrasana
• Sarvangasana
• Karnapidasana
• Shirshasana
• Pashchimottasana
• Padmasana
• Sukhasana
• Kapalabhati
• Pranayama

I am going to share the details and links to some tutorial videos to all these asanas in parts. These video tutorials have helped me in understanding the asanas as a beginner.

In this article, I have listed down my reference material of study for first six asanas.

I have no intention to be the Ekalavya of Yoga. I am re-iterating that i am not a subject matter expert, just a basic human trying to adopt a healthy discipline. I am a man of patience and I realize that good things come slow.

Take a small walk before you start. Remember the god and thank him for giving this body and keeping you alive today. Take a deep breath and in each asana listen to your body. Do not over do it. You may permanently hurt yourself. Your body knows better than you, so listen to your body. Also please do not perform yoga right after food intake. Atleast take 3-4 hour gap after your meal.

Patience and Perseverance is the key.

असतो मा सद्गमय । तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । मृत्योर्माऽमृतं गमय ॥

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

asato mā sadgamaya, tamaso mā jyotirgamaya, mṛtyormā'mṛtaṃ gamaya. Om shanti shanti shantih

Lead me from the untruth to the Truth. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality . Om Peace Peace Peace.

1. Tadasana

Also called as 'Palm Tree/mountain' pose for English understanding. This is a standing posture and helps us stretch our body and loosen up muscle as a warm up before we start our next postures. Follow this video to help as a guide. I do 4 sets of this asana with deep breathing before I go on to my next.

2. Surya Namaskara

Meaning of this asana is Salutation to Sun God. In west, the posture is called 'Sun salutation'.

This asana has different variations in them. Here we will focus on the one which was easier for me as a beginner. This asana is a combination of multiple postures carefully put together to create a nice flow of energy from the top to bottom of our body and keeping the pranic energy in balance. Video here will explain us how to perform this asana.

I perform this asana 6 sets 3 for each leg.

Here is a beautiful detailed explanation of this asana and how we should correct our posture. My goal is to reach the fineness in the posture performed by Ty Landrum here. Big fan Ty Landrum <3

3. Trikonasana

English call it as 'Triangle Pose'. This asana also has multiple variations. I selected a couple of them which helped me. This is another one of the standing posture, where keep our body straight hands stretched outwards and bend to the sides trying to touch the foot/floor. This video will guide us how the simple trikonasana is practiced.

There are other variations of Trikonasana called as Parivritta Trikonasana(revolved triangle pose), Baddha trikonasana (Bound trainagle pose), Uttitha trikonasa and others which you can slowly incorporate once your are comfortable.

4. Uttitha Parshvakonasana

This asana is similar to trikonasana. As the name suggests these are all about making the different geometric angles with out body. The english translation is 'Extended side angle pose'. The tutorial here will help us understand how to perform this asana.

5. Parshvottanasana

English translation is Pyramid pose. Initially I stretched only up until my body muscle allowed me to, as days went by my body allowed me to extend a lil more and one fine day voila :>.

Here is the a video link which will help you in practicing Parshvottanasana.

6. Virabhadrasana (Warrior pose)

This asana helps strengthen our thighs, shoulders, back and arms. the video here will assist us on how to perform this posture. This again is the standing posture and helps your body stretch well.

Conclusion

Remember to focus on your breath. Yoga is not just about posture but its the sync between the posture, breath, body and mind. I will see you in the next article with the title' Beginners guide to Yoga #2'.

Stay safe. God Bless you.