The True Spirit Of Yoga

By Patricia | December 23, 2008
Basic Health Tips

Well, several yoga teachers believe that it actually helps to be less flexible if you are beginning yoga. But honestly, whether you’re very flexible or stiff as a stick really doesn’t matter much, as long as you’ve set your heart on learning yoga. If you really are interested in learning yoga, then over a period of time, you will learn postures that will make you suppler.

While yoga and flexibility go hand in hand, it’s not a prerequisite for you to begin yoga. All you need is intention to learn and ability to breathe! Yoga will teach you to inhale and exhale more deeply, thus, enriching your body with oxygen. The asanas are coordinated with breath work, and each asana will stretch and tone a different set of muscle and joints.

Yoga will make you more aware of what’s happing to your body; you will feel every stretch and every breath. If you are less flexible, there are chances that you’ll feel these stretches even more intensely than those who are more flexible. In a yoga class, you’ll find people of all ages and various physical fitness levels. Some will be much more supple than you, some much less. But the true spirit of yoga is in doing what your body permits and learns as you progress with each class.

Do not worry about which poses you may not be able to do; just do what you can do and enjoy what you do. You’ll see that as you practice yoga regularly, your flexibility will increase. So for example, you had difficulty in touching your toes, after a week or so of yoga, you will be able to touch your toes easily. You will be able to appreciate the slow but steady changes in your body as you practice yoga. The secret is to keep practicing regularly.

Remember that a good yoga teacher is not going to be intolerant of low flexibility levels. The teacher will help you with postures and will tell you to do the poses at your own pace. If you aren’t too flexible, remember to do the postures slowly and not to push yourself. The idea is to adapt the yoga postures to suit your body. Over time, you will become flexible and toned. Begin with simple yoga postures before attempting any of the complicated postures that require you to be flexible as a pretzel. The flexibility will come over a period of time – so don’t worry about that. Just enjoy your yoga practice, be open to learning and do not get competitive when you see others attempt complicated postures.

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