Guidelines to Do Yoga Practice at Home

Yoga is not a group of work outs, but it is a healthy way of living. Regular yoga practice will give health to the body and peace & calmness to the mind. Yoga practice is open to all generations and fitness levels; it can be practiced by anybody who is interested, even by sick people or by aged ones. Practice of yoga will give fast changes to your body and mind assuring long-term health.

Stretching exercises in yoga gives flexibility and strength to the body and deep breathing and meditation help to attain harmony and tranquility to the mind of the practitioner. Yoga exercises can be practiced with the help of a good DVD tutorial or by watching online yoga training, if it is difficult for you to attend the regular yoga classes in a yoga training center. But participating in a yoga class will give different experiences including the warmth of social association.

Different types of yoga are practicing now and some of them are Hatha yoga, Bikram Yoga and Power yoga. Hatha yoga is the basic training of different yoga poses and it is good for a beginner. Bikram yoga is slightly advanced and it is also called ‘hot yoga’ because the temperature of the training room will set nearly to 100 degrees Fahrenheit for producing more sweat from the body of the practitioners. Power yoga is based on Ashtanga yoga and its aim is to build more strength to the muscles. Power yoga is very different from the basic yoga and it uses isometric exercises also along with the yoga postures in the practices.

After getting enough training to complete different poses (asanas) from a trainer or from a video tutorial, it is better to practice yoga at your home itself as per the convenience of your time. Daily yoga practice helps you to keep the body fitness steady and to keep your mind in a happy and calm state.

It is better to practice a small period of time (20 to 30 minutes) daily than to practice for a longer period of time (one or two hours) in two or three times in a week. When you practice yoga at home, use the following tips to make it a happy and pleasant experience:

1. SELECTION OF THE PLACE: Select a spacious, private room in your house for doing daily yoga practice. This room should be clean and well-ventilated with good surroundings.
2. TIME OF THE PRACTICE: Morning practice is more advisable but if you are not able to find time in the morning, tries to do it before lunch or in the evenings.

1. WARMING UP EXERCISES: Do some warming up exercises before beginning yoga practices to avoid the risk of straining the muscles. Doing ‘Surya Namaskar’ daily before the yoga practice will work as a good warming up exercise for the body.
2. PRACTICE YOGA ON EMPTY STOMACH: Do not do the practice when your stomach is full. Do yoga practice two hours after the meal or before having any meal.
3. ENJOY THE PRACTICE: If possible, include other family members or close friends in the practice session to avoid loneliness. Hearing you favorite music while doing exercises is also a good idea to overcome monotony.

1. PRACTICE DIFFERENT POSES: You cannot practice all the poses you have studied in a single day’s schedule of practice. So include different poses in each day’s schedule as per your convenience and this will also help to make the practice more interesting.
2. USE A YOGA MAT: When you practice yoga, use a yoga mat or a thick cloth on the floor for standing, sitting and lying to perform the exercises. Do not practice yoga on the naked floor of your home.

You will find home practice of yoga as boring, if you do not have the enthusiasm and expertise to complete the different yoga poses with perfection. First do enough training practice of different asanas or poses under a certified trainer or by watching a video tutorial to master the techniques of yoga poses.

Divide these poses into certain groups and include these items in each day’s practice as per the time allows. Without a good planning, the home yoga practice will not be enjoyable.

• Start with meditation practice and breathing (pranayama). Take some considerable amount of time to do the meditation daily in a quiet and calm surrounds. Anuloma Viloma (alter nostril breathing) is a good pranayama exercise that you can practice daily.

• Warming up is necessary before doing stretching exercises, so do ‘Surya Namaskar’ exercise to warm up your body.
• Select some yoga poses or asanas that can be practiced by standing. Some of the items that can be accomplished by standing include Thrikonasana (triangle pose), Parsvakonasana (side angle pose), Virabhadrasana (warrior pose) and Vrikshasana (tree pose).

• After this session, select some asanas that can be completed by sitting. Padmasana (lotus pose), Vajrasana (diamond pose), Gomukhasana (cow face pose), Baddha Konasana (bound angle pose), Ardha Matsyendrasana (half spinal twisting pose), Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend) etc. are good yoga poses in this category.

• Next step is to select some poses that can do by lying on the yoga mat. Many effective asanas can be practiced in this position. Important among them are Bhujangasana (cobra pose), Salabhasana (locust pose), Dhanurasana (bow pose), Merudandasana (spinal column pose), Viparita Karani (legs up the wall pose), Mastysana (fish pose), Supta Vajrasana (reclined thunderbolt pose), Sarvangasana (shoulder stand), Halasana (plow pose), Sirsasana (head stand) etc. Among these Sarvangasana is considered as the Prince of asanas and the Sirsasana is considered as the King of the asanas.

• Do Savasana (death pose) for at least five minutes in the end of the session, after the completion of other exercises. It is a must to do Savasana, even if you have done yoga practice only for a small period of time. After the completion of Savasana, you will feel a lot of energy or you will experience a feeling of rejuvenation. For doing Savasana, you should lie down on the mat and remain still till the completion of the asana, in any position that you feel comfortable; it is not necessary to lie straight on your back for doing Savasana.

Import aspect to make the yoga practice enjoyable is the right selection of the poses that you can complete without much effort. If you are able to do many of these items listed above effortlessly, include them all in your list of exercises and practice them in different days as per your time allows.

Over enthusiasm is not good in yoga practice. Take pain to master the different poses of yoga and include well-trained items only in your daily practice. For the beginners, there is a possibility to make some common mistakes which are to be avoided by careful attention.

• Age is one of the deciding factors in giving flexibility to the body; so do the stretching exercises as per your age and physical fitness allow. Young people can easily practice yoga poses, but it is not very easy for the elders or sick people to imitate youngsters. Practice those items that your body is willing to comply and do not try to imitate any other person.

• Do not compare your performance with the fellow practitioners because of the reasons stated above.
• Do not expect to master the techniques of yoga practice within a small duration of time. It will take considerable time for the body to learn to complete the poses with perfection; it is mainly depended on your age and physical condition of the body. So be patient in the process of learning.
• Do the practice for minimum five days a week, if it is not possible to practice all days in a week. Duration of the practice should be fixed as per the availability of your time. But it is not wise to do yoga for a long duration in one or two days in a week instead of practicing it for more days in shorter periods.

Regular yoga practice gives the body more resistance power against many diseases and calmness and constancy to the mind. Many common diseases such as diabetes, rheumatism, heart disorders, high or low blood pressure, natural ageing process of the body etc. can be prevented or can be treated to a certain extend by the regular practice of yoga. A good number of people, though they have genuine interest to practice yoga, are not able to find time to visit a yoga training center regularly, so it is a better option for such people to do the practice in the home itself.