Yoga for everyone l Online yoga for beginners

  Every time I would hear about Chaturanga, I used to panic! I know Yoga is supposed to calm you, relax you and it's done to help you slow down in life. But Chaturanga was my personal Mt. Everest in my head. I had seen images, videos and I used to see the professionals perform it with such ease and finesse that the only thought was WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO DO THIS? I would shriek and scream in my head. Much like the way I behave when I see people posting fancy videos and images of them doing Shirasana and variations of it. Nope, I still am stuck halfway. That I guess is a story for another day. So back to Chaturanga, I have a not very strong core and really weak shoulders. I am not the person who can just see videos, attend workshops, and master this pose in a day. No sir! But the next thing am I about to tell you will amaze you as much as it did to me. One day while watching and practicing to some of the other yoga videos a few weeks back, I could hold this pose for about two breath

  Image: Pexels.com We will take a break this week from our usual programming and learn something about an alternative therapy that has intrigued me in the past few days.  The first instance of Crystal healing was found in Ancient Egypt somewhere around 4000 to 5000 years ago. The Ancient Sumerians used crystals for health and protection. Later in history, Greece and China also used stones for safety and good fortune. The word “Crystal” comes from the Greek word for ice, as it was believed that clear quartz was water that had frozen so deeply that it would always remain solid. Crystal and gemstones have played an important part in all religions and the word has been used in Bible, Koran and many other religious texts.(Source: Crystal Healing ) A little search on Google Trends and a few other tools made me realize that a lot of people are trying to understand how this works - just like me.  Image: AnswerThePublic.com While I intend to go for a session and experience what the hype is all

Sirasana is known as King of Yoga postures and not an easy one to master. This inversion pose is not only refreshing but its consistent practice can help you build an immense upper body and core strength. However, it can expose your head to injury so one has to be very cautious while starting off and practicing it.  It's best to consider this pose when you have built enough shoulder, neck and abs strength. As you will need a lot of patience and practice to master this asana. I too am somewhere midway in my journey to learn this and I must say, some days it will be difficult and other days you will be surprised at the ability of your body to go upside down. To get into this asana, I have even considered spending time on Dolphin and Egg Tripod pose - more in later.  Here are some basic steps to practice Sirasnana. But if you are new to Yoga or haven't practiced in a few years, its best to practice under the supervision of an experienced instructor.  Place your yoga mat alongside

When I started off practicing Yoga, I never knew that there were poses that would make me as someone today pointed out 'bendy'. Some days I used to keep looking people around me climb the walls, turn upside down and do headstands and handstands with ease. Quite a few days, I had to tell myself that I would get there eventually. Not today, not tomorrow but I would. In one such class, I was taught the very graceful Mermaid pose which caught my attention. It surprised me at my ability to do this pose with minimum effort.   While on the face of it Mermaid Pose looks like a complex practice that is almost impossible, but with a few days of practice, one can perform it. However, like I did, it's very easy to confuse it with One-legged King Pigeon Pose. However, according to YogaOutlet.com ,  Mermaid Pose is an advanced variation of  One-Legged King Pigeon Pose ( Eka Pada Rajakapotasana )  that deepens the backbend and opens the hips even more. One-legged King Pigeon Pose is an ul

Suryanamaskar or Sun Salutations were a regular feature of our PE class in School. Though we grew up performing it but never really paid attention to the benefits much like most of things we learnt in school. Cut to present when you need to quickly add a quick cardio workout but arent willing to go through a series of YouTube videos that promise quick fat burn in 30 mins. Surya namaskar is a complete body workout that will not only tone your muscles and helps you with weight loss.  Not only this, it is a superb warm up for your HIIT workout. Surya Namaskar is based on a sequence of seven asanas, of which five are repeated twice–making it a twelve-step salutation. Starting position: Stand erect with hands at their respective sides and feet as close together as possible. Place the body weight on the balls of the feet, towards the big toe. Hold the neck straight, abdomen in normal contour (deflated at its lower end but not necessarily drawn inwards), and chin drawn in. The sequence

Yoga practice always intrigued me and led me to join a local studio. The sessions were challenging and had professional and attentive instructors such as Darshana. This made me look forward to attending these sessions every evening. The instructors would increase the intensity of asanas gradually while breaking them down to make it easy for beginners like me. While most of the other attendees of my class had been practicing it for a while, I did find it difficult on several occasions as I was stiff as a tree. Today I will narrate how I managed to get a fair bit of knowledge on the practice Chakarasana or the Wheel Pose. At the studio, Chakrasana was done towards the end of the backbends session as the ending sequence. Initially, I struggled a fair amount to even lift myself. But patience and perseverance won at the end and I was able to do it albeit not completely. Like most of the Yoga practice, it’s still work in progress. But as they say, you have to start your journey somewhere,

An Introduction to Pranayama  Yoga is an ancient discipline that teaches the art of balance between different entities of an individual. Yoga and pranayama practices help one find liberation and peace through yogic philosophies and their implementations in everyday life, ranging from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.  Yoga is a way of life rather than a form of exercise. Yogic philosophy talks in-depth about how one should live their lives with discipline and control, and pranayama plays a significant role in implementing that yogic philosophy. Pranayama means working in the dimensions of prana. Prana is the life force that nourishes and nurtures our mind. It creates an aura around us when at a high level will flow unrestricted, which in turn keeps the mind calm, positive, and enthusiastic. Pranayama means one's control over the breath. Our breath is the life source of energy, and when done wrong, it can create multiple issues on a physical and emotional level.