Yoga is nothing but postures and poses. There are many number of yoga poses and postures. Keep in mind some important things before starting yoga pose or posture. You should know about your body and body limits.
You should not perform any yoga pose which your body cannot stretch. Listen to your body in the beginning and don’t push yourself for any pose.
If you are pushing yourself too hard, you may injure yourself and may not enjoy the yoga pose.
Before starting yoga pose, take help of a yoga teacher. Your teacher guides you how to start the yoga and how to perform basic yoga poses and postures. After training, you can practice yourself using videos, websites and books.
Before starting difficult yoga poses, start with warm up exercises. Warm up poses will prepare your body for the difficult poses and you can stretch easily for different yoga poses.
Warm up poses includes shoulder exercise, neck exercise, eye exercise, and arm exercise.
1. Shoulder exercise: You may have tension in the neck and shoulders, leading to headaches, bad posture and stiffness. You have to perform shoulder exercises by keeping your spine straight. Your neck should be relaxed and shoulders should be facing forward. Raise your right shoulder and drop it. Raise your left shoulder and drop it. Now raise both the shoulders at once and drop down. These stretches provide relief if you have tightness in your shoulders. Repeat it for five to ten times.
2. Neck exercise: Performing the neck exercises reduce tension, increases flexibility and tones your muscles. Neck exercises can be performed while standing or sitting. Start slowly with your spine in straight position. Your neck should be relaxed and your shoulders should be facing forward.
Drop your head back and drop it forward. Now keep your head straight and turn it completely to the left, bring it back to the centre and turn it completely to the right. Keep your head straight, drop it forward and rotate it as wide as a circle. Don’t strain your neck and you just focus on observing the reach of th breathe to your muscles of the neckRepeat it five to ten times.
3. Eye exercise: Eyes also need exercise to be healthy and strong. By moving the eyes in all directions without turning your head, the eye muscles become strong, eye strains will be prevented and eye sight will improve. Thus you will achieve effective eye care.
Keep your head in straight position. Look to the left without turning your head. Look farther to the left now. Look to the right without turning your head. Look farther to the right now. Look up and look down. Look straight and farther. Look up in the form of circle, rotating your eyes clockwise and anti clock wise.
4. Arm exercise: Arm exercises will improve blood circulation to the body. The body should be balanced while doing arm exercises. Take deep breathe and relax. Lift your arms and feel the stretch coming from the waist. Circle your arms outside each individually one after the other and come to the normal position. Repeat it five to ten times.
Most videos and training institutes don’t include warm up exercises. They start with simple and easy yoga poses. If you warm up, you can be prepared for any yoga pose without any strain and injuries.
