“Young or old, man or woman, virtually anyone can enjoy the wonderful benefits of yoga.”
If some asana practice is good, more must be better, right? Well, that all depends on how you practice. If you always practice carefully, taking time to listen to your body, gently extending your boundaries but backing off when you need to, then you can practice asanas 5 or 6 days a week, even every day, without any danger of overdoing it.
Think back to any injuries you might have sustained—maybe a broken bone, a torn ligament, sprained ankle, or a back or shoulder injury. Most of us have hurt ourselves in one way or another over the years. If we were able to take care of these injuries properly and they healed well, they may not bother us anymore. But sometimes, though seemingly healed, they can come back to haunt us.
The ancient science of yoga offers profound benefits that go far beyond the physical. But in order to enjoy all of yoga’s benefits—physical, mental, and spiritual—we need to cultivate a certain mindset.
Asanas were designed to enable the practitioner to sit for long periods of time in meditation, so as to achieve the ultimate goal of self-realization. Even if our goals are less lofty, our asana practice can help us develop qualities that contribute to inner peace and a higher consciousness.
Why do we practice yoga asanas? I would guess that most of us do it for our health and well-being, to reduce stress, or to experience inner peace. Those are good reasons. But to achieve those results, it’s important to practice in a way that leads to those goals.
Remember that the word “asana” can be translated as “comfortable seat.” The word “comfortable” is the key to your practice. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t gently extend your boundaries—on the contrary, without doing so, the poses won’t get any easier. But it should be a gradual process, approached with patience.
No matter which sport you practice, yoga can improve your performance. As we all know, excelling at a particular sport involves not only physical ability, but mental focus as well. Yoga offers many techniques to help you improve on both fronts.
Approaching life with the principles of yoga as our foundation will bring us keen insights—whether about our relationships, our personal situation, or our work. These insights will enable us to find a solution to any situation or problem in life.
When we’re faced with a difficult decision, if we’re unable to come up with a solution after analyzing the pros and cons, all too often we just sit there focusing our attention on the problem.
A lot of times I like to practice asanas one at a time, holding the poses for a while and taking short rests in between, when appropriate. But I also like to practice Salute to the Sun, flowing from one pose to another. Because there are so many different types of flow yoga classes available now, I just wanted to give you a few words of caution, especially if you’re new to the practice of asanas.
Carrying some extra weight shouldn’t stop you from exercising with yoga. While you may experience some limitations, you can still benefit immensely from doing yoga asanas, and I’d like to give you some hints on how to optimize your practice. “Overweight” is a broad term, so just apply the suggestions that apply to you.
We all know what stress is—whether it’s from our jobs, our families, trying to juggle too many things at once—it seems to be ever present. If we let it build up, it can be very harmful.
While some women are not particularly bothered by the onset of their monthly period, for many others premenstrual syndrome (PMS) can be debilitating. One woman describes:
