-ball-exercises/”>Benefits of Yoga Pilates Ball Exercises « Learn Yoga Excercises …

An exercise ball workout is considered very beneficial and can be used in yoga, Pilates, and any other physical therapy of your choice. Since the exercise balls are extensively used in Pilates, it is a common belief that Joseph Pilates …

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Pilates has been known to be the ideal workout for people who have suffered an injury and need to build strength back into their muscles. The Pilates workouts can be easily customized for rehabilitation, allowing one to perform overall …

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PumpOne, the creators of portable personal fitness trainers that go where you go, has recently introduced their most exciting update yet: FitnessBuilder 2.2: FitnessBuilder SOCIAL, the world’s first workout sharing application available exclusively in … Pulse Yoga, incorporates weight training into your yoga practice, adding more toning, strengthening, and muscle definition without using machines in a gym. Combining all of the best elements and disciplines of Pilates, …

If you want to try out some Yogic poses, but scorn the simple early ones, then there is a range of intermediate poses that can fit your needs. They can help with your physical fitness and muscular command, and can help you become a more relaxed person. Here are three such poses – their Sanskrit names, their English names, how to do them and what they’ll do for you.

Firstly we have Utkatasana – known as the “Awkward Chair”. It may not sound terribly relaxing, but it will benefit you to perform it. Firstly, you must bend your knees until your thighs are almost parallel with the floor. As though, in fact, you were sitting in an awkward chair. Keeping your buttocks low, you then raise your arms towards the ceiling, bend your upper back slowly to raise your head, and then hold your breath for the duration of what would be about eight breaths. This exercise strengthens the thigh muscles.

Natarajasana, or the King Dancer pose, entails moving from a standing position to shift your weight onto your right leg. Bending your left knee, you must grasp the inside of your left foot with your left hand. Pushing your torso forward, you then raise your right arm and left foot towards the ceiling. Hold that for 5-10 breaths, repeat on your left leg and feel the benefits in your legs and shoulders.

Finally, and famously, we have Padmasana or the Lotus position. Recognized even by Yoga novices. From a basic seated position, you bend your right knee, bringing the right ankle into the left hip crease. Bending the left knee, you then repeat the move with your left leg, placing it on top of the right. Then you reverse the process and repeat until you feel you’ve done enough. This exercise will aid posture by opening your hips.

At the highest level, Yoga is far from simple poses, being in fact combined with breathing exercises and meditation that some Yogis believe can lead to attaining Moksha – literally a “release” and an escape from the banal limitations and pain of human existence. As one would expect from a practice dating back almost three thousand years, there is a very wide range of exercises backed by meditative mindsets that allow the Yogi to seek Moksha.

The physical aspect of these yogic practices requires the practitioner to be at a high level of physical fitness – this in itself necessitating a level of discipline that is rare and awesome. For many casual and even more serious practitioners this higher level of discipline and spiritual attainment is simply a long term target which may never be achieved, but aiming for which allows a Yogi to put him or herself through a lifestyle which has clear positive benefits.

These poses go only a little bit further than simple sitting, standing and lying down. The idea behind them is a simple path to relaxation, to shake off the everyday stresses one is feeling, and to give people a start towards performing the more complex poses and attaining a heightened state of relaxation.

If you have looked at people doing Yoga and have been put off by the complexity of their poses and the amount of time you deem would be necessary to reach that level, then there is a simple entry point to yoga for beginners. Very simple, in fact – you begin by standing. Yes, standing. This is achieved simply by standing straight with feet together, hands touching thighs. And that’s it. This pose is intended to achieve a stable pulse.

Now you know how to stand, you’ll be interested to hear about other methods of doing Yoga. Well, sitting is next up. Unlike the average methods of sitting, this does not involve a chair. It requires you to sit on the floor with legs together and outstretched, toes turned upwards and palms rested on the floor.

Of course these are the most simple steps concerned with Yoga, and to get the greatest benefit out of it you will need to do a bit more work. But they do exemplify how simple the beginnings of yoga are.

The single greatest way to sustain a Yoga injury is to try and “do it yourself”. A multitude of celebrity Yoga videos are now available, but unless you have some Yoga experience, they should be avoided. At the very least, when beginning Yoga, learn with a qualified instructor. The Yoga Alliance offers 200 hour and 500 hour certificates for Yoga teachers, so be sure to check you are learning with someone who has at least the minimum of these. With a qualified teacher, you will be able to go at your own pace and have expert help on hand should you get in to difficulty.

The aside, the major cause of injuries sustained during Yoga is trying to do too much, too soon. Photographs of extreme Yoga poses are very media friendly and appear frequently in the tabloids, but you need to be realistic in your expectations. You can get to the stage where you can bend your body at will, but it will take time. Make sure you lay the necessary groundwork before trying anything advanced; a qualified Yoga teacher will help you with this.

The main areas of the body that are injured in Yoga are the neck, lower back, hamstrings and knees. By keeping a focus on these areas, you can reduce the risk of injury. Pay close attention to what is happening in these areas and never push them too far.

If the worst does happen and an injury does occur, treat it like you would any other injury. Rest completely from Yoga and other physically demanding exertions, and if necessary see a doctor for proper treatment. Only ever return to Yoga practice when you are 100% recovered from the injury, and even then avoid any poses that focus effort and strain on the previously injured area. Once again, a qualified Yoga teacher will help with this – the final proof that a Yogi or Yogini is the one essential when it comes to avoiding Yoga injury.