suggestions on starting Yoga self practice?

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drpmrvel
drpmrvel Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am at a desk job spending 10 hours in front of computer. I have grown over weight and stepped in to obesity grade and I was no longer ready to grow morbidly obese. I just wanted to return to normal physique and rip off the spare tyre I was carrying around my waist. I began my venture with light activities. Later just started reducing my intake. I no longer love making a pig of myself at everyday dinner. Just a week ago I got my elliptical trainer and burning around 400 calories per day. Now I would like to incorporate Yoga in to my weight loss regimen. I have bought a book which explains all the yoga postures. But on trying with some basic postures, I realized that I develop laboured breathing and shivering of body parts involved in the posture. I need suggestions and guidance on how can make the postures as it should be. I know many of you would like me to join the nearby yoga centre to get the hands on. But, since I live in a village and I would travelling every weekend to meet my 2 years old kid, it Will not be a possible option for me to get real time guidance. Hope my fitness pal friends out there could lend me a hand on this. Also I am looking for friends to join my mfp friends list. :)
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Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    As a certified yoga teacher, I'm not comfortable recommending you do poses intense enough to make you shake outside the guidance of a teacher. Yoga can both help and hurt.

    I recommend Rodney Yee's AM Stretch for beginners who can't get to a teacher.

    This is so gentle it won't have significant calorie-burning properties, but can help with this:

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpower/201007/how-yoga-can-help-end-binge-eating

    ...According to Juliano, yoga gives people the skills to stay with what they are feeling, rather than turning to food to escape. People who are obese or suffering from eating disorders have a tendency to dissociate from their bodies -- to choose not to feel what they are feeling when they are angry, anxious, or sad. Often, they turn to food to numb themselves. "There's this sense that I have to feel better right now, " Juliano says. "There is a complete intolerance of what is happening right now." This need to escape unpleasant feelings triggers a binge.

    When you eat to escape what you are feeling, you lose touch with the experience of eating, as well. This is one reason binges can spiral out of control. "You have no understanding that you are full, way past full, into uncomfortable, because you're so out of it," Juliano explains. "You have no connection to what you're eating. You're eating a pint of ice cream and can't even taste it. Or you go to make yourself some toast and before you know it, half the loaf is gone."

    Mindful yoga directly challenges the habit of dissociating from your body and your present-moment experience. "The whole point of yoga is to stay connected to your body. You learn it through practice, through breathing, and through breathing through the sensations."
  • Rhumax67
    Rhumax67 Posts: 162 Member
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    Do it yourself very carefully. Dummy that I am, I managed to partially tear a bicep--been months & still not 100%. Totally my fault, I tried to force a stretch & it would never have happened with an instructor.
  • drpmrvel
    drpmrvel Posts: 15 Member
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    @kshama2001 : I appreciate your time and effort making a detailed reply which I find it much helpful. you hit the nail on the head in the lines "You have no connection to what you're eating. You're eating a pint of ice cream and can't even taste it. Or you go to make yourself some toast and before you know it, half the loaf is gone." Until months before I was the example for this line. Now I gained a maximum control on what I eat and at the same time my mind is not insane searching for food, as I did earlier.
    Let me buy the book you have suggested. I hope I can learn it on my own with wide research and thoughtful learning curve. Is it possible that I can master the basics of this art on my own or you still strongly recommend for a teacher?. I have to look for the options so as to make me available on the weekends at the yoga training school. I become very sick without seeing my daughter. She is with her grandma 200 kms away from my work place. My wife is also working (we both work in a same organisation and managing the same vertical). we become so energetic every friday only because we are going to spend another 2 days with our daughter. Our situation is not feasible to keep her with us since we both are in compulsion to work to combat the financial aspect and none of our relatives are available to stay with us and take care of her. I hope everybody can understand how painful it is to miss the time with our cute little angel. Thank you again for your time!.
  • drpmrvel
    drpmrvel Posts: 15 Member
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    @Rhumax67 : I am sorry that you happen to hurt yourself. Yes, it should take months of time to get healed of the muscle & tendon tears. I suffered deltoid stage II tear while trying a overhead shot in badminton (that too with no proper guidance from professional). It has been 5 month from the time I got injured and I just got cured about 75% of injury. Still I have difficulty getting the combination of "abduction and external rotation over head movements". Now I am very wary of getting the muscles stretch beyond the comfort zone. I thank you for your effort on replying my question.
  • AlexanderAmelia
    AlexanderAmelia Posts: 29 Member
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    Get a beginner's yoga dvd and start following along the best you can. Whatever is too challenging, look for modifications of that pose online. That is what I have been doing (with my awesome sister) for several months, with great joy and improved health and flexibility! We use one from Gaiam, available free online- just go to their site! It is easy to modify any pose so it is a stretch for you but not so much that it would hurt. Best of luck; I find yoga to a super healthy and helpful activity.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Here are some videos about breathing:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd94Gh4lKOA&list=PLhiNtEBsgk1SYY72OgPH1THLzRMZaGTyX&index=3
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxbdx-SeOOo&index=1&list=PLhiNtEBsgk1SYY72OgPH1THLzRMZaGTyX
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvdiMjSgItg
  • drpmrvel
    drpmrvel Posts: 15 Member
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    @Alexander Amelia: Thank you for your guidance and I hope modifications could help me.
  • drpmrvel
    drpmrvel Posts: 15 Member
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    @RodaRose : Thanks for sharing such wonderful videos. I am overwhelmed with the replies from all of you friends. I am happy that people out there to give a helping hand in whatever we feel like hurdles!
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    There are lots of free videos on this site: https://www.doyogawithme.com/yoga_classes

    Select beginner classes and try a few different teachers to see who you like as everyone has a different yoga style. I recommend David Procyshyn beginner sequences. He is good at explaining the postures and moves slowly.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Check out Yoga With Adriene on Youtube, she is awesome.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    Yoga with Tim on youtube is what I went for for beginner's stuff. He's even got a progression from absolute beginner.
  • Chrysalid2014
    Chrysalid2014 Posts: 1,038 Member
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    yogadownload.com has tons of stuff for all levels. It's not free tho'.
  • drpmrvel
    drpmrvel Posts: 15 Member
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    @KarenJanine @Nony_Mouse @stevencloser @Chrysalid2014 : Dear friends, thank you all for sharing the best information on the topic. I certainly will give a try checking on the stuffs for my suitability.
  • Karen_can_do_this
    Karen_can_do_this Posts: 1,150 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    As a certified yoga teacher, I'm not comfortable recommending you do poses intense enough to make you shake outside the guidance of a teacher. Yoga can both help and hurt.

    I recommend Rodney Yee's AM Stretch for beginners who can't get to a teacher.

    This is so gentle it won't have significant calorie-burning properties, but can help with this:

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpower/201007/how-yoga-can-help-end-binge-eating

    ...According to Juliano, yoga gives people the skills to stay with what they are feeling, rather than turning to food to escape. People who are obese or suffering from eating disorders have a tendency to dissociate from their bodies -- to choose not to feel what they are feeling when they are angry, anxious, or sad. Often, they turn to food to numb themselves. "There's this sense that I have to feel better right now, " Juliano says. "There is a complete intolerance of what is happening right now." This need to escape unpleasant feelings triggers a binge.

    When you eat to escape what you are feeling, you lose touch with the experience of eating, as well. This is one reason binges can spiral out of control. "You have no understanding that you are full, way past full, into uncomfortable, because you're so out of it," Juliano explains. "You have no connection to what you're eating. You're eating a pint of ice cream and can't even taste it. Or you go to make yourself some toast and before you know it, half the loaf is gone."

    Mindful yoga directly challenges the habit of dissociating from your body and your present-moment experience. "The whole point of yoga is to stay connected to your body. You learn it through practice, through breathing, and through breathing through the sensations."

    This lady knows what she's saying!!!
  • snowflakesav
    snowflakesav Posts: 644 Member
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    Try a yoga DVD. I imagine there is a ton of great stuff on you tube
  • yogacat13
    yogacat13 Posts: 124 Member
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    I second the Rodney Yee dvd advice, and would suggest that even if you cannot regularly go to a class, drop by one from time to time to help focus your self practice. I feel this is important as it's very easy to not realise when a posture is slightly off when doing self practice so having a teacher do light corrections can be very helpful.
  • 13muthonikimani
    13muthonikimani Posts: 29 Member
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    I think you should try Yoga With Adriene she is a great teacher, you can do the beginner series to learn the movements and coordinate them with your breathing. But try and drop in a class at least once in a while (I go maybe twice a month) just to make sure your posture is okay and that you're not hurting yourself. All the best, I hope you enjoy yourself :)
  • 13muthonikimani
    13muthonikimani Posts: 29 Member
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    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Check out Yoga With Adriene on Youtube, she is awesome.
    I second this, Adriene is amazing

  • yoginimary
    yoginimary Posts: 6,783 Member
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    Which poses cause the shivering? If you want to post pictures of yourself in the pose, I may be able to help with your alignment.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
    edited June 2015
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    drpmrvel wrote: »
    @kshama2001 : I appreciate your time and effort making a detailed reply which I find it much helpful. you hit the nail on the head in the lines "You have no connection to what you're eating. You're eating a pint of ice cream and can't even taste it. Or you go to make yourself some toast and before you know it, half the loaf is gone." Until months before I was the example for this line. Now I gained a maximum control on what I eat and at the same time my mind is not insane searching for food, as I did earlier.

    Let me buy the book you have suggested. I hope I can learn it on my own with wide research and thoughtful learning curve. Is it possible that I can master the basics of this art on my own or you still strongly recommend for a teacher?. I have to look for the options so as to make me available on the weekends at the yoga training school. I become very sick without seeing my daughter. She is with her grandma 200 kms away from my work place. My wife is also working (we both work in a same organisation and managing the same vertical). we become so energetic every friday only because we are going to spend another 2 days with our daughter. Our situation is not feasible to keep her with us since we both are in compulsion to work to combat the financial aspect and none of our relatives are available to stay with us and take care of her. I hope everybody can understand how painful it is to miss the time with our cute little angel. Thank you again for your time!.

    I was thinking of you yesterday morning as I did yoga. An interesting book on how yoga can help or hurt is The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards. This was available at my library. Do read the review by Timothy McCall, MD, Yoga Journal's Medical Editor.

    In the book, we see how teachers can inadvertently hurt their students. I was lucky to start yoga with a teacher who was trained in the Iyengar tradition, and was all about props and proper alignment. This was at lunchtime at a liberal arts college, and she knew we people with desk jobs needed to warm up. In fact, since I became a certified teacher, I seldom took classes from other teachers because they often do not warm up my back as much as I'd like. (I had back problems for decades.)

    I have two main takeaways from the book:

    1. Don't do Shoulder Stand without a blanket under the shoulders to protect the neck http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/salamba-sarvangasana/ (I never get completely vertical when off the wall like she does in the picture.)
    2. (Probably not discussed explicitly in the book but my own summary.) Practice ahimsa with my own body during my yoga practice.

    I am comfortable giving my blessing to people learning yoga on their own if they are able to listen to their body and be kind to it during their practice.

    http://www.yogajournal.com/article/teach/teaching-the-yamas-in-asana-class/

    Ahimsa

    Ahimsa traditionally meant “do not kill or hurt people.” This can be extrapolated to mean that we should not be violent in feelings, thoughts, words, or actions. At root, ahimsa means maintaining compassion towards yourself and others. It means being kind and treating all things with care.

    In class, we often see students being violent toward themselves—pushing when they should be pulling back, fighting when they need to surrender, forcing their bodies to do things they are not yet ready to do. When we see this kind of behavior, it is an opportune time to bring up the topic of ahimsa and explain that to be violent to the body means we are no longer listening to it. Violence and awareness cannot coexist. When we are forcing, we are not feeling. Conversely, when we are feeling, we cannot be forcing. One of the main purposes of yoga is to cultivate feeling and awareness in the body, and violence only achieves the opposite result.

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