How should I go about creating a personal yoga practice?
Creating a personal yoga practice is the next step in discovering your inner self and reaching a higher level of consciousness and awakening. It is extremely significant and is akin to a bird leaving its nest, as it now means that you are now mature and capable enough of personal practice, without the need of supervision, and yoga is meant to be something personal. Supervision and guidance are however very different and you may still need to consult with your trainer and seek advice from time to time.
To begin with, you need to choose poses that you are comfortable with and like practicing. However, when formulating your practice you also need to make sure that you include poses that have shoulder, hip, and forward, backwards, as well as twisting movements of the spine, so as to ensure that your practice session is wholesome.
Let’s break up your yoga session into five parts so that you can go about planning the sequence of poses you have chosen for your personal yoga practice.
1. Breath Awareness and Centering
Spend the first ten to fifteen minutes of every session on exercises aimed at centering and breath awareness. This will help you to focus. Perform the breathing exercises in a seated or relaxation pose.
2. Counter Poses
Counter Poses are essential for any yoga practice routine. A counter pose, as the name suggests counters or opposes the movement or the effects of another pose. For example, if you do a back bend or twist a forward bend would act as a counter pose, while a gentle back would be its counter pose. Counter poses are important because they help restore normalcy to the concerned region.
3. Warm Up
A warm up routine is vital for any session as it helps to improve circulation and flexibility in your muscles and joints. These warm ups can be performed in any position. In a seated position for example you could start with the child pose and then include poses like ‘Seated Side Bend’, ‘Simple Twist’,’Bound Angle Pose’, and ‘Head to Knee Pose’.
4. Poses
The poses that follow form the bulk of your session and you can follow a sequence like this – begin with your sun salutation practice, then move on to standing poses, then balancing poses, then back bends, followed by forward bends, and then inversions. Inversions need to be placed towards the latter portion of the session as they are more demanding and strenuous and your body should be warmed up, with the preceding activities.
5. Relaxation
Relaxation is another fundamental aspect of yoga and is extremely important. Practice relaxation poses for at least five to fifteen minutes.
