Yoga has now become a common terminology worldwide, with approximately 300 million people practicing yoga on regular basis. The roots of this widely appreciated art of mind and body can be traced back to over 5000 years ago in the northern part of India. Yoga is a blend of body postures and movements, maintaining breathing patterns and connecting to your brain. 

If you thought of starting yoga, you have already taken the first step toward your journey. There must be a thousand questions in your mind about the same! How to get into Yoga? Will my body be able to adapt to Yoga? How to manage my breathing? And much more. It is understandable but fret not. The best way to learn yoga is by ‘practicing’ it. So do not shy away from taking some help in getting started with Yoga, just dive into it!

Calm your mind and don’t compare yourself

Yoga goes way beyond just exercising, it is a very distinctive experience and differs from person to person. The first thing you need to do is calm your mind and tell yourself that it is going to be absolutely fine. Secondly, do not compare your body and flexibility to others. Everyone was a beginner once. Just take a deep breath and start stretching. 

Be slow and steady

The key to a joyful journey is not keeping any impractical expectations. If you think “I should be able to put my legs behind my neck” on the first day itself then you will face nothing but utter disappointment. Yoga postures are renowned for looking easier in pictures and way harder when it comes to actually doing them. Do not get ahead of yourself or you might end up getting hurt or twisting your ribs. Slow and steady wins the race! 

Take a note of how you breathe

Yoga is connecting your mind and body and observing your breathing is a way of doing that. You need to be aware of the breathing pattern that you are following. For instance, if you are taking a deep breath and exhaling it gradually, you should feel this is relaxing your mind as well as body. Or while doing Anulom Vilom Pranayama, you should be able to connect your mind to aggressive and fast-paced breathing. 

Learn one posture at a time

Holding yoga poses can be a huge task for a beginner. So start with simple postures and eventually get into the complex ones. Furthermore, team your mind to get comfortable with stillness. You might be able to do a yoga pose in no time but holding it for a minute or two can be an excruciating task especially when you are not used to the calmness that yoga brings along. 

Just chill! 

Yoga is about relaxation. So end your yoga session with Shavasana; just don’t sleep ?! And enjoy the rest of the day with a mind filled with calmness and a body full of vigor.