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Yoga Poses for Beginners

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<b>Monica</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Monica
Ālaya Yoga

Yoga Poses for Beginners

Beginning your Yoga Journey? Here is a list of 5 yoga poses for beginners to start with.

Many of the things we do for fitness today involves rigorous strength training, such as weight training, running and cardio, but all of this comes at the expense of flexibility and the mental relaxation and mindfulness that yoga provides.

Along with the physical benefits of yoga, the breathwork involved in yoga allows our body to obtain the most benefits out of each physical posture we do.

If you find yourself intimidated to start your yoga journey, or maybe you’ve just been out of touch with your yoga practice and would like to start again, here are a few yoga poses for beginners you can try the next time you’re on the mat.

Finding yourself intimidated to start your yoga journey, here are a few yoga poses for beginners you can try the next time you’re on the mat.

Seated Forward Fold

A seated forward fold is a relaxing yet active stretch that improves flexibility as well as lengthens the spine and stretches your entire body. This pose helps relieve a lot of the stress that we hold in our bodies along with providing a gentle stretch to all the big muscle groups in our body.

Benefits of this pose:

  • Lengthens and stretches the spine, as well as provides a gentle stretch to the entire body
  • Massages the digestive organs, and relieves digestive problems such as constipation
  • Great for problems with the sciatica
  • Relaxing and gentle stretch for the hamstrings and the backs of the legs
  • Calms the nervous system and relaxes the mind

Beginners tip:

Even though this is a foundational yoga pose, a lot of yoga practitioners struggle with this pose. If you find yourself unable to reach your feet with your hands, rest your hands on your shins as you fold forward with your palms facing upwards as you keep your focus on lengthening your spine.

Downward Facing Dog

The downward-facing dog is a wonderful foundational yoga asana that strengthens and stretches our entire body. This pose can sometimes feel challenging but over time with repetition, one can achieve all the great benefits that this pose offers.

Benefits of this pose:

  • The downward-facing dog is equal parts stretching and strengthening for the entire body
  • Opens as well as strengthens the shoulders
  • Stretches the calves and the feet
  • Lengthens the hamstrings

Beginners tip:

This asana offers a deep stretch to our upper body as well as lower body. To start with, keep your knees bent and keep your attention on lengthening through the spine. You can also walk out your feet to engage both your legs individually.

If this pose feels challenging for you, try a puppy pose to start out with. Bring your knees down to the ground, and stretch your arms forward while lifting your hips and arching your back.

Bridge Pose

Bridge pose is a chest opening yoga asana. It is typically performed towards the end of a yoga session. It provides a gentle stretch to the back and one can reap the benefits of an inversion without physically being upside down.

Benefits of this pose:

  • Stretches the chest, neck and shoulders and lengthens the spine.
  • Calms the mind and the body and is a wonderful stretch for cooling the body down.
  • Strengthens the calves, hamstrings, glutes as well as ankles.
  • Opens the chest and the heart.
  • Helps relieve menstrual discomfort.

Beginners tip:

This pose can be strengthening as well as restorative. While the more advanced variation involves interlacing your fingers underneath your back, you can also place your palms flat on the ground next to you to provide more stability. Lift your hips and place a bolster, cushion or yoga block directly underneath the sacrum to provide support to your lower back.

Triangle Pose

Triangle pose is a standing pose that is great for both advanced as well as beginner yoga practitioners as this asana has many variations one can use. It’s a great pose that improves both your physical and mental health.

Benefits of this pose:

  • This pose strengthens your core, in turn improving your stability.
  • Stretches and lengthens the spine while also improving spine mobility.
  • Targets the lower back, where people often carry a lot of tension resulting in reduced anxiety.
  • Opens and stretches the hips and the shoulders.

Beginners tip:

If it’s challenging to reach the floor with your hand, you can reach for your shin or your knee. Another variation is resting your elbow on your knee to provide more stability and support.

Child Pose

The child’s pose is a gentle beginner pose. Even though this pose may feel like rest, you’re actively engaging your back as well as your hips to achieve a gentle stretch throughout your body. It works as a great stretch to warm up your body before getting into more advanced poses. It also gives you the chance to reconnect with your breath.

Benefits of this pose:

  • A gentle stretch for the back, ankles, hips ad the spine
  • It can help relieve back pain
  • Active rest for the body during your yoga practice
  • Relaxes the mind and the body

Beginners tip:

This pose can be very calming and restorative. You can keep your knees together or separated depending on whichever pose feels more comfortable to your body. To achieve even more relaxation, place a cushion or a bolster underneath your chest for additional support.

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5 Reasons Why You Should Try Yoga

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why you should try yoga
why you should try yoga
<b>Monica</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Monica
Ālaya Yoga

5 Reasons Why You Should Try Yoga

Here are 5 Reasons why everyone should try yoga

Yoga is often defined as a form of exercise in which you practice poses that help you relax your mind, become more flexible and improve your strength. Yoga, however, is so much more than just that. It’s a practice that perfectly combines breathwork, meditation and mindfulness to tackle everyday stresses as well as ease our minds of any anxiety we may feel on the regular. Through the practice of Asana and breathwork, yoga improves our mobility, flexibility and strength, targeting our mental, physical and spiritual well being.

Yoga practitioner is encouraged to keep their focus on their breath and to practice mindfulness to get the most out of each pose. The daily practice of yoga can help you feel more centred throughout your day, helping ease the stresses that we face regularly in today’s world where people have looming deadlines, rush hours and workloads. It can help you feel more balanced in your approach to life. Other than these benefits from the practice, yoga can also help hasten the healing time in medical ailments such as insomnia, depression, arthritis etc and has mental and physical health benefits for people of all age groups. Yoga can be modified for different people based on their level of fitness, age, and disabilities.

In this article, I’ll talk a little more about some of the most popular reasons people practice yoga.

A yoga practitioner is encouraged to keep the focus on their breath and to practice mindfulness to get the most out of each pose.

Yoga improves strength, mobility and flexibility

The most obvious benefits of making yoga a part of your daily practice and routine are the physical benefits to your body. Yoga helps increase blood circulation in our bodies through the practice of asana’s, many of which target specific locations in our body.

So many people today spend hours upon hours on a chair working, which can often lead to neck and back pain and can even cause irreversible changes to our posture and our spine. Something as simple as doing a sun salutation can help open up your chest, and stretch out your back and reverse the effects of sitting still for extended periods of time. Yoga also involves stretches that if done regularly can help us become more flexible and can improve our strength. One can even alter their daily practice based on what they want to target.

Yoga can help with insomnia

Yoga can help people who suffer from insomnia and poor or irregular sleep patterns. Studies have shown that people who practice yoga before bed find it easier to drift off to sleep as your physical body as well as your mind is more at ease. It can help prepare our mind and our body not only to fall asleep but to stay asleep. Meditation is also a great tool to use when you’re lying awake in bed. When you’re in a meditative state, your mind has the chance to revisit each problem and put it to rest, and this process of mentally putting an end to the day can help calm an overactive brain.

Studies have shown that people who practice yoga before bed find it easier to drift off to sleep...

Yoga can help manage and prevent anxiety

Our bodies are complex structures that hold emotions, thoughts and feelings in their alignment. Holding our bodies in particular positions can provoke thoughts and feelings associated with that pose, for example, people with an open chest and their shoulders back and down maybe habitually more receptive and open to the world around them, while people with a hunched back may suffer from issues of self-esteem.

Anxiety can manifest in our body in 2 physical ways, through our muscles and our breath, i.e., our body becomes stiff and tense while our breath quickens.

• Here are 8 breathing exercises for anxiety you can try right now.

By learning how to manage our breath through the practice of pranayama and being more informed about the alignment of our own bodies, we can manage anxiety more efficiently as well as avoid panic attacks before they even occur.

Studies have shown that people who practice yoga regularly have more energy throughout the day.

Health benefits of yoga

As a lifestyle choice, yoga has proven to help with multiple health issues and is recommended by medical professionals all over the world as a complementary health approach and a holistic health practice.

– Practising yoga can lower the risk of heart disease and is recommended as a preventative measure especially for patients who have suffered from cardiac arrest.

– Yoga can also help reduce chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia as well as chronic arthritis.

– It can help improve our overall brain health, especially brain functions such as attention and memory.

– Yoga is also great for improving your balance, which is all the more important for people who are older.

– It can help boost our immune system as well as help with thyroid issues such as hyperthyroidism as well as hypothyroidism.

– The practice of yoga can even help prevent diabetes.

– Pranayama is also great for the health of our lungs and can help us improve the quality of our breath.

These are just some of the many health benefits that yoga provides. With regular practice, yoga can help us lead healthier as well as more balanced lives.

Yoga can help improve our moods, temperament and stress levels

We face stressors in our daily lives, be it at home, work or even in social situations and stress can become a habit just like anything else. This constant low-stress mode we face throughout the day can impact how we think, how we act, and even our posture. They can gradually become the root cause of physical and mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety and chronic pains.

Yoga can help boost our moods so we feel negative emotions less often. People who suffer from poor anger management and suffer short tempers can also benefit from yoga through the practice of pranayama and mindfulness and is often recommended by therapists. 

Yoga is more than just a form of exercise, it is a lifestyle choice that can help improve our mental and physical health. The next time you’re feeling stiff, stressed out or just low, do a small yoga practise and see how it affects your mind and your body. Over on the Ālaya Yoga platform we’ve got loads of great express classes on our live schedule as well as in our video back so you can practice anytime.

Ready to give yoga a try?

At Ālaya Yoga, we’ve got a team of expert teachers who are all trained to teach to all levels, including complete beginners. Explore our memberships at Ālaya Yoga and start your journey to holistic wellbeing today.

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How do I stay motivated to practice yoga?

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<b>Monica</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Monica
Ālaya Yoga

How do I stay motivated to practice yoga?

Staying motivated to get on yoga mat in the winter months

In the hustle-bustle of our everyday lives, when days go past and we find ourselves busy and surrounded by work deadlines, responsibilities, family or kids. It can get pretty hard to find the motivation to practice self-care and wellness, even when we know that yoga can help you feel better, but that’s precisely why it’s so important to care for our own mind and bodies all the more. Maybe you’ve always had a regular yoga practice but lately things have been busier than usual and you’ve fallen out of your daily yoga routine. Having a daily self-care routine can help bring balance into our lives with some simple lifestyle changes.

Now we’re into deep winter it can be even harder to get onto our mats. The dark cold mornings can dampen our motivation to get moving and the darker the evenings get the more we’d rather be under a blanket on the sofa than exercising at all.

It’s important to remember that a daily yoga practice can help keep you in a positive headspace, as well as helping you stay healthy and fit. Here are some ways you can make some active changes to your life by taking your attention inward. These tips can help you keep focused on maintaining these lifestyle changes by keeping yourself motivated.

It's important to remember that a daily yoga practice can help keep you in a positive headspace, as well as helping you stay healthy and fit

Here are 12 easy steps to help you stay motivated to practice yoga this winter

1. What's holding you back?

Bring your attention to what is holding you back from your yoga practice. Journaling can be particularly helpful here. For example, If you have unstable work hours and that’s keeping you from having a set time for your yoga routine, it may be helpful to do your yoga practice before a particular meal like breakfast or lunch. Bringing awareness to the obstacles keeping you from your routine can make it easier to find solutions.

2. Make getting started quick and easy

Try to make the process of getting started with your practice as quick and efficient as possible. If your home environment allows, keeping your yoga mat handy and in your sight can help you keep motivated. Try and keep your practice space clear so there’s no distractions deterring you from getting started.

3. Have your mat rolled out

If you like to practice yoga early in the morning when you wake up or before bedtime, lay your mat down in the night before you go to bed so that you’re ready to hop on it whenever you wake up. Having your mat rolled out and ready to go can also act as a visual reminder 

4. Start a spiritual diary

Start a spiritual diary where you can write about your health and well being, things that may be clogging your mind, your sleep routine, emotions, etc. If you don’t enjoy writing long entries, you can even start a small bullet journal highlighting the things you wish to achieve daily or the asana’s that you want to try, or anything that inspires you to want to practice yoga. Writing is a great way to bring your thoughts out into the world so that you can act on them. You can have your journal by your bed so that you can write before you go to sleep, or in the morning when you wake up.

5. Decide on your practice days

Decide on the days you would like to practice yoga. Start with 3 to 4 days a week and you can progress to more in your own time depending on your work-life schedule and your personal health goals.

5. Set a Sankalpa or use affirmations

Sankalpa or affirmations are positive statements and intentions that can help you overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts. When you repeat them either in your mind or out loud, they can help change and rewire your thoughts to help you channel your energy in a particular direction. Set an affirmation to help make your yoga practice a natural part of your lifestyle. You can even sit and meditate on it for a few minutes daily as part of your yoga practice.

If you want to know more about how to set a Sankalpa read exactly how to do get started with our Kundalini Yoga Teacher Viriam

7. Start a challenge

Give yourself a yoga challenge to get you started! It can be anything from doing a 20 minute practice every day, to maybe being able to do an asana that you struggle with and want to work towards. Challenges like these are an awesome tool to keep you motivated to reach small goals.

8. Reward yourself more

Give yourself a reward for achieving your goals, or completing a challenge you’ve set for yourself. Even if it’s something as small as doing a yoga practice today, rewarding yourself can help you want to do more of it in order to achieve it.

9. Treat yourself to some new yoga goodies

Speaking of rewards, why not give yourself a new yoga mat, or some yoga blocks, or some new clothes for your practice? Maybe signing up to a new yoga class online can help inspire you to get on your mat again.

10. Try a completely new style of yoga

If the reason you’re practicing less and less everyday is the fact that your practice is getting boring for you, or maybe it’s getting too easy from doing the same asana’s or meditations repeatedly, try something new. Maybe you can try new breathwork exercises, yin yoga or try some restorative yoga. Move your practice around to help you find that excitement in your practice again

11. Short yoga practices still count

If you can’t manage a full 90-minute practice, that’s okay, keep your practice short! Even a short 15-30 minute practice can help you get the benefits of a full yoga session. Try to focus on a particular muscle group that may need a good stretch. Bringing your attention to your breath even for short bursts of time can help you feel more balanced throughout the day. 

Over on the Ālaya Yoga platform we’ve got loads of great express classes on our live schedule as well as in our video back so you can practice anytime.

12. Use social media as inspiration

If you find yourself scrolling through instagram or twitter on the daily, why not use that to your advantage and follow some of your favourite yoga practitioners to help you gain inspiration. You can even join one of the many yoga challenges available online. You can post about your yoga journey every once in a while to help keep you motivated. Try following some of our favourite social media yogis like Mark Robberds or Deepkia Mehta for some great yoga inspiration and the occasional challenge.

Let Alaya Yoga help you stay motivated

We’ve got loads of yoga motivation for you over on the Alaya Yoga app, including loads of express classes and challenges. If you’re not already a member you can try 10 days completely free.

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What is Holistic Yoga?

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<b>Sarah</b><br>Ālaya Yoga

Sarah
Ālaya Yoga

What is Holistic Yoga?

Yoga as a holistic health practice

The general understanding our society has about wellness is that it solely relies on physical health. While our physical health is an important part and contributes immensely to our overall wellness, our mental and our spiritual health is just as important but it is often overlooked.

The true meaning of yoga is “union”, and it’s this very union of our mind and body that makes yoga different from other forms of physical health practices. Yoga is a holistic science that embodies the union of our physical, mental and spiritual health. It can help us achieve mental equilibrium, as well as providing numerous health benefits for our body. Yoga as a practice encourages a lifestyle that focuses on balance, harmony, positive thinking and health. This is holistic yoga.

Asanas, breathing exercises and meditation are all part of, and essential to a complete yoga practice. This focus on the breath while performing asanas can help us achieve a sense of calmness during the practice that affects both our physical and our mental wellbeing, while also enhancing the benefits we would otherwise achieve without breathwork being a part of the practice. This is also one of the key elements that sets yoga apart from other physical workouts.

Asanas, breathing exercises and meditation are all part of, and essential to a complete yoga practice.

Holistic yoga for the body

Yoga consists of asanas that we hold for extended periods of time while we bring our focus to our breath so as to find a sense of calmness in our body that can help us relax deeper into each pose, and this process can also help calm our mental state so that our mind can catch a break from our otherwise busy and hectic everyday schedules.

This benefits our physical bodies and health in multiple ways. Just to name a few –

• Yoga improves our overall flexibility, strength and mobility.

• Yoga can help keep your lungs healthy and strong, thereby improving your oxygen intake and breathing.

• It can help manage illnesses such as chronic arthritis. Gentle yoga can help people who have weaker muscles or suffer from tender or swollen joints.

• It improves the health of our heart and is often recommended by medical professionals especially for people who’ve suffered from cardiac arrest.

• Studies have shown that people who practice yoga regularly have more energy throughout the day.

• Like most forms of physical exercises, yoga can help boost the production of two hormones in the body essential to cultivating happiness – Oxytocin and Endorphins.

These are just some of the many health benefits that yoga provides.

Studies have shown that people who practice yoga regularly have more energy throughout the day.

Yoga for mental health

Breathwork and meditation are an important facet of a yoga practice. Breathwork paired with asana’s can help us achieve the full benefits of yoga and this alters our everyday moods and our mental state for the better.Yoga is great for people who suffer from insomnia. It can help regularize our sleep patterns. A small practice before bedtime, or a small meditation can help people fall asleep more quickly and have a more restful sleep.

We face stress regularly in our day to day lives and yoga can help manage both stress and anxiety as well as prevent panic attacks before they occur.

A regular yoga practice can increase the size of our hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for memory. This in turn also affects the neural connections in our brain. These factors are especially important for older people as age can lead to degeneration of the brain over time.

Yoga is great for people who suffer from depression as well. A regular yoga practice can lead to people living happier lives and having a more positive outlook overall as it allows our minds to take a break from all the chaos that surrounds us and encourages us to find harmony and calmness within our own self.

When we practice asanas and breathwork daily, our focus and concentration gradually increases outside of the practice in our day to day activities as well.

Yoga affects our mental health in various ways, and positively reinforces our daily moods and outlook towards life.

Union of the mind and the body

Breathwork and meditation are an important facet of a yoga practice. Breathwork paired with asana’s can help us achieve the full benefits of yoga and this alters our everyday moods and our mental state for the better.

Yoga is great for people who suffer from insomnia. It can help regularize our sleep patterns. A small practice before bedtime, or a small meditation can help people fall asleep more quickly and have a more restful sleep.

We face stress regularly in our day to day lives and yoga can help manage both stress and anxiety as well as prevent panic attacks before they occur.

A regular yoga practice can increase the size of our hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for memory. This in turn also affects the neural connections in our brain. These factors are especially important for older people as age can lead to degeneration of the brain over time.

Yoga is great for people who suffer from depression as well. A regular yoga practice can lead to people living happier lives and having a more positive outlook overall as it allows our minds to take a break from all the chaos that surrounds us and encourages us to find harmony and calmness within our own self.

When we practice asanas and breathwork daily, our focus and concentration gradually increases outside of the practice in our day to day activities as well.

Yoga affects our mental health in various ways, and positively reinforces our daily moods and outlook towards life.

Ready to try a holistic approach to yoga?

Join our team of expert teachers who are all trained to teach holistic and traditional yoga.  Explore our memberships at Ālaya Yoga and start your journey to holistic wellbeing today.

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Yoga For Arthritis

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It’s National Arthritis Week, and we know that Arthritis can have a significant impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing, as well as physical symptoms such as joint damage and pain. 

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Why learning Sanskrit will greatly impact your Yoga practice as student and teacher

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By Laurien Zurhake

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April Workshops

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We have some exciting workshops coming your way this April

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Ayurveda and Yoga for Spring

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Spring has finally arrived and we have the perfect workshop to help you reset and renew your yoga practice!

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Yoga Nidra For Sleep

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Did you know that Yoga Nidra can help you sleep?

This World Sleep Day,  Viriam Kaur wanted to share more on yoga nidra and how profoundly beneficial it can be for your sleep and overall wellbeing.

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Yoga Philosophy in Action with Alexandria Crow

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Want to know more about the philosophy of yoga and how you can implement it into your practice? Look no further!

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