Hello, I’ve been trying to practice on my own since about march, having picked up stuff from the internet/youtube and what books I can find. I’ve recently brought a book called Hatha Yoga illustrated which has an awful lot of postures in.
Putting aside that some postures are beyond me (and I’m not going to try and stand on my head any time soon) there are still a ton of poses, some of which overlap. I don’t really know how I should be applying these or how to actually build a meaningful practice. Specifically to build strength, hopefully lose some weight and become fit. I will say up front that I’m not interested in the more esoteric stuff (chakras and inner energy/prana/kundalini), so talking about Bandhas and mudhras isn’t relevant (which isn’t to say that meditation isn’t useful, but that’s entirely another matter).
Currently I’ve been doing some postures, one after the other, in the mornings, totalling about half an hour. I hold each posture for about 15 breaths if I can, but it occurs to me that isn’t what you are meant to do – or is it? Is that how you build strength and endurance? I don’t know. Conventional exercise wisdom seems to say yes. But at the back of the Hatha book are a couple of sequences like the salutation sequence where you move between poses inhaling and exhaling, not holding them while breathing (which isn’t easy). These seem quite short. Are you meant to do all the poses in a book like this for a full practice?
I don’t take lessons because I don’t live near a teacher and can’t afford them, by the way. Thanks for reading.
Looks like you are not sure of what you want & why you want do yoga. Are you looking for inner peace or looking to loose weight?
Follow these steps and you will be fine
1. Lie down on your back and relax
2. Raise the outstretched right leg and hold it in the air
3.Raise both legs and the head in the air
4.Go into the candle, raise the butt and the legs to the sky
5. Lie down again and rotate the spine some times
6.Turn in the prone position and raise the right outstretched leg
7.Put your head backwards and bring your feet as far as possible to the head
8.Lie the head on your hands, move your feet and relax
9.Sit cross-legged or in the heel seat
10. Lie down and make the muscles relax
yoga is good for health and fitness