New to yoga

patabcn

hi. I am new to yoga although I have been trying it on and off for a couple of years. I still have an issue with my breathing. Anyway,,,currently I have ben doing Gaiam yoga following Suzanne Deason's dvd, and I am also trying some hatha yoga. My goal is to feel better, and eventually get fitter (get fit) : From what I have read ashtanga yoga could help me but I have seen a couple of videos and it doesn't look for beginners. Also the rythm is very high. Just my 5 cents on yoga. Hopefully I will know what type of yoga I will be doing.

Do you follow any dvd? Which one?

Thanks!

Edit: now I've got the name right

busywaterbending

hi, welcome to yoga.

for fitness and exercise, holding a posture with good technique and breathing is perfect for you. Some yogas can be adapted to that idea, others are generic and can be found in exercise videos, some have entire methods for that (like hot yoga Bikram, or Ashtanga).

I think Ashtanga is pretty advanced in primary series (I do it under David Swensen) but by series 2 the range of motion goes far beyond functional fitness.

Enjoy your practice and find a style or video that is good for you. The research that style and see if there are any teachers of it that you can disciple under if you wish to practice further in it.

http://theviewfrommymat.com/2012/08/14/youre-probably-a-yoga-instructor-if/ is a good read too to understand a bit of the yoga mindset.

happy training!

MonkeeBob

I do all of my yoga from you tube, check out Sadie Nardini on there. She is really good at explaining the poses. I started with her yoga for Overweight yogis, and have moved on to do a bunch of her videos. I love it and I was a complete beginner six months ago (with crappy ankles), now I'm way stronger and more flexible. Not to mention my ankles are a million times better. Have fun!!

patabcn

Thanks a million to both of you! I am actually doing more ashtanga yoga now. it makes me feel great and I can't wait for next morning to do my yoga. I've seen David Swensen and that looks really advanced. I think however that I will be moving that direction...eventually

I'll keep you posted

TGKvr

I'm also fairly new to yoga, and would love more recommendations for online guided sessions (ideally free, haha!). It seems, browsing through, that many of the videos are breaking down the poses rather than just a nice flowing session.

Aside from that, I also have a question about home practice. Aside from a regular weekly class, I currently practice about 15-20 minutes a day (directly following about 20-30 minutes on my stationary bike). Sometimes I have time for more, but I can typically only squeeze in 20 minutes. That said, do you think that is enough to really develop my practice and improve? I tend to think some is better than none... I'd cut out the bike but I feel like it warms me up nicely, and with prior knee injuries, it loosens my joints so my yoga practice flows more easily. My main focus is to strengthen the muscles around my knee joints.

I'm having trouble sequencing poses for my home practice. I typically start with a half sun salutation (sometimes a full round or two), then some split down dogs, planks, throw in a plow, lunges, locust, bridges, and dancer & warrior poses, and a few twists. I'll end with savasana, but only for 2-5 minutes. Is that long enough? Like I said, I'm sort of limited with my time so I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to do fewer poses, held longer, or more poses in faster flow. With the focus being leg strength, though I would ideally balance between leg, core, and arms. And I don't know how important it is to end with savasana, and what the minimum time would be for that.

Thanks in advance!

yoginimary

I'm also fairly new to yoga, and would love more recommendations for online guided sessions (ideally free, haha!). It seems, browsing through, that many of the videos are breaking down the poses rather than just a nice flowing session.

Aside from that, I also have a question about home practice. Aside from a regular weekly class, I currently practice about 15-20 minutes a day (directly following about 20-30 minutes on my stationary bike). Sometimes I have time for more, but I can typically only squeeze in 20 minutes. That said, do you think that is enough to really develop my practice and improve? I tend to think some is better than none... I'd cut out the bike but I feel like it warms me up nicely, and with prior knee injuries, it loosens my joints so my yoga practice flows more easily. My main focus is to strengthen the muscles around my knee joints.

I'm having trouble sequencing poses for my home practice. I typically start with a half sun salutation (sometimes a full round or two), then some split down dogs, planks, throw in a plow, lunges, locust, bridges, and dancer & warrior poses, and a few twists. I'll end with savasana, but only for 2-5 minutes. Is that long enough? Like I said, I'm sort of limited with my time so I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to do fewer poses, held longer, or more poses in faster flow. With the focus being leg strength, though I would ideally balance between leg, core, and arms. And I don't know how important it is to end with savasana, and what the minimum time would be for that.

Thanks in advance!

Any amount of time is better than none - for both your practice and your savasana.

Is that home practice your typical order? The plow and bridge should be near the end. For strength, you need longer holds with fewer poses - there's nothing wrong with that - twists one day, forward bends the next, etc. Basically, a class follows a bell curve - warming up slowly, going to the hardest stuff, then cooling down - but you are already warm. This is the order I would do your practice:
dog poses, flow, standing poses
backbends, abs, arm balances
twists, forward bends
inversions
savasana

Make sense?

I know Yoga Journal has some good podcasts that are free. Look for podcasts that are about the time you do your practice. Also, your library will have some videos.

A word about knees: some poses, like (baby) dancer, it is very easy to stretch one side of the knee more than the other. Please go to a class on occasion to get feedback, learn new things, and try different styles.

Mary

TGKvr

Thank you! No, that's not the order I typically do them - I was just listing the poses that I tend to do most often. I'd say I follow your recommended order pretty closely, though...
I think I will start holding poses longer, like the lunges in particular.

I've browsed through Yoga Journal but haven't seen the podcasts - I'll have to check that out.

Oh and I do a regular weekly class. I wish I could do more, but they ARE a bit pricey.
The teacher there is really good about correcting my poses and offering modifications when necessary. Surprisingly, I don't need a whole lot of modifications. My knees are essentially healed, but I'm still working on recovery as far as strength goes - they just aren't 100% yet. So poses like child's pose, hero's pose, and "easy" pose are actually quite difficult for me as I simply can't bend with that much pressure yet. But I do really well with the balance poses - just have to watch the compression and ROM, really.

I think my practice last night was one of the best I've done at home so far, with most poses flowing pretty naturally to the next. I only had one moment where I stood there thinking "ok what next". And there are some things that I will do in class that I'm not entirely comfortable trying on my own at home yet (full wheel for example).

I really appreciate your advice!

yoginimary

I've browsed through Yoga Journal but haven't seen the podcasts - I'll have to check that out.

You'll probably have to get them through itunes

MonkeeBob

I'm also fairly new to yoga, and would love more recommendations for online guided sessions (ideally free, haha!). It seems, browsing through, that many of the videos are breaking down the poses rather than just a nice flowing session.

Veria.com has 10, 20, and 30 minute vinyasa classes in their video section. You could check them out on YouTube too. Also subscribe to the Sadie Nardini channel she puts out full videos all the time. I obviously really like them

TGKvr

Awesome, thanks folks!