Yoga for Beginners: 20 Tips for Starting Yoga for the First Time

Yoga for Beginners: 20 Tips for Starting Yoga for the First Time

Yoga for Beginners

In these times of uncertainty, the only way one can build resilience is through the Power of Pause! Yoga is a bridge between body and mind, there is no separation between mind, body & spirit. It provides the calm you need; it relaxes your body internally & mends your mental health as well. A balanced mind will always revive your spirit. It is important that we take care of how to build a strong immune system while we work to address the other emotional challenges that the world is experiencing.

Top 20 Yoga Tips to Get Started for Beginners

With the pandemic & virus floating around over a year, it is even more crucial to make yoga a part of your daily life. Especially to all those recovering post-covid, yoga will boost your immunity; improve your oxygen levels through asanas, & pranayama. Regular practice of yoga also increases blood flow towards your brain, increasing memory and concentration. Do you see how many benefits can one gain from practising yoga? This will surely motivate you and make you feel rejuvenated if you are a beginner to this extraordinary journey.

Here are 20 simple tips to help you get started:

1. Yoga moves your body in different ways, which encourages your mind to think in different ways. Finding a good teacher will help you to be an explorer and be more creative in this practice.

2. Begin where you are, yoga helps in curing mental health related problems as it energizes you to create your mind, body, and soul. It helps you to calm your nerves, therefore controls anxiety and has a longer effect of managing depression. Basically it supports all mental health related problems.

3. Yoga corrects posture and improve quality life but do listen to your body because your body has its own limits.

4. Maintain a regular yoga practice and it will improve flexibility and mobility.

5. A great way to overcome your fear with balancing asanas so set an intention and is focused.

6. Avoid making comparisons with others, there is no point checking others’ progress. The real practice will make you grow to be thankful, and abundance would grow. You will get there with regular practice, so don’t need to rush

7. Make a commitment to yourself to a particular pose and hold each pose for at least 30 seconds. This helps you build willpower, and this resolve will seep into the rest of your life. Gratitude is rewarding.
8. Breathe and become a better listener with the help of Brahmari Pranayama, or the Bee Breathing Exercise.
9. Do not forget to breathe during our asanas as we tend to hold them. Yoga poses are tricky. Asana strengthens your back, torso, shoulders and legs. It increases your stamina, helping one to be strong and toned. Regular practice increases blood flow towards your brain, increasing memory and concentration promoting positivity and energy.
10. Backward bending poses create extension and length in the spine. They can also assist us in undoing some of our long term postural habits and help in release currently held emotions. Our posture reflects our current state of mind as well as our past experiences. Just a quick tip, do learn some poses ahead of your time before hitting a class.
11. You will find amazing and creative connect to this ancient practice. It is said there are as many poses as there are species in nature. It taught me a sense of balance that we can’t live without others, we cannot live without animals, and we cannot live without nature.
12. It stretches the muscles in your back, increasing spinal flexibility and suppleness. So, always go slow with each and every move.
13. Always end your practice for the day with Shavasana.  It is deeply restorative as it is practiced at the end of a session, calms your brain, and is great for the thyroid. 
14. You tend to live longer due to the cause for a profound lifestyle, finding your ikigai, your life’s purpose. So keep practicing and be firm with your foundation.
15. Yoga helps to prevent chronic pain in your body and illnesses. So, listen to your body first and always choose good yoga mats which are firm and soft.
16. Stay hydrated while doing yoga and do wear comfortable clothing and be aware of your postures to regain maximum benefits.
17. To all women, you could do yoga during those 5 days every month. So, don’t limit yourself as this is an ongoing journey. Please take references from your teacher which poses and breathing exercises to perform which will help you release the cramps. Asanas reduces the symptoms for pre-menstrual syndromes (emotional, behavioural, and physical) and also the symptoms of menopause.
18. It benefits women who are under-going breast cancer treatment.
19. Research has proven that practicing prenatal yoga can help throughout both pregnancy and labor. It could also improve birth outcomes such as reducing delivery time, so expecting a child is not an excuse to stop your journey; instead you should be more focused on taking care of your health when you’re pregnant.
20. Regular practice calls forth jewels of insight from the mind and body. Get on your mat today! And while you begin this journey, do eat mindfully!

Yoga Kit & Equipment to Get You Started

“If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.” ~Masaru Emoto, the Hidden Messages in Water.

Some mantras are only about strong poses, positive attitudes and just the overall vibes I am feeling today. Some days are about feeling the beingness, an acceptance of things as they are and a trust that I am flowing in the right direction. Cultivating an attitude of joy is so crucial and as the day unfolds it reverberates this very vibration everywhere we go.

If you are new to this ancient practice, make sure you are well-prepared with the basics from mats to blocks to staying hydrated.

1. A Yoga Mat

is essential to any Yogi. A good comfortable stretchy mat will keep you safe and firm to the ground. Choose a mat which has a good grip and should be soft as well supporting your back, neck, and head.

2. A yoga block

particularly helpful if you are practicing at home. It assists you with accomplishing a more steady position; however it likewise gives better solace and unwinding during the less difficult aspects of your yoga exercise.

3. A water bottle

because it’s common to sweat a lot during yoga, which means that staying hydrated, is incredibly important.

4. Clothing and Attire

Choosing your clothing wisely is necessary, as I mentioned above, you tend to sweat during your exercise so it should not stick to your skin otherwise it will leave you uncomfortable and you won’t enjoy the process. Make sure you are choosing lightweight comfortable materials which is breathable and has a relaxed fit, it should stay put no matter which positing you are in.

In Conclusion

One step towards a better life.

Every article, every blog has time and again specified that immunity building is so important with all the viruses going around. “Yoga with Mrunal” is going to be a much-needed soul-booster for you. Keep all your stress and worries at bay and enroll yourself for a total of 180 minutes of yoga for the weekend.  In this yoga workshop, you will witness many asanas, and breathing practices. You will also experience various forms of backbends that will help you feel relieved from anxiety and stress. By opening up the frontal portion of the body, muscles and joints are relieved of the accumulated stress. By opening up the frontal portion of the body, muscles and joints are relieved of the accumulated stress. We need to stick to our Sadhana (practice).

I am a yoga enthusiast & is currently completing my teacher training program at Yogavahini Chennai. I have also been a student of Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute for 15 + years, & am here with a 2-day yoga workshop to help your body move in different ways, to encourage your mind to think in different ways, to improve your flexibility, & mobility.

Yoga is commonly practised as an exercise or therapy but it is much more than that. As a yoga practitioner and soon to be certified as an international yoga teacher, I have the special privilege of guiding individuals through movement experiences. And what an extraordinary honour it is to hold space for others as they learn to recognise sensation, feel their breath, take up space, and seek inner quiet. Due to the current pandemic situation, we are doing all our classes online.

For any inquiries regarding yoga personalized & group sessions/workshops please write at hellothere@mrunalpawar.com.