Yoga's popularity is at an all-time high: more than 30 million Americans and five million Europeans now practice. But to the average person on the street, yoga's traditional - and slightly mysterious - hippy image often holds strong. Lucia Cockcroft gets back to basics.
The internet is awash with information and advice on yoga: the styles, its origin, what it can do for you. Sometimes the claims are little short of extravagant.
For beginners especially, this information-overload can be thoroughly overwhelming - sometimes made more daunting by differences in opinion on exactly what yoga is, and which style to chose.
Definitions vary - but for the beginner, this explanation is perhaps the most accessible: "yoga is a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures and meditation, practised for over 5,000 years."
Why do yoga?
Many Westerners turn to yoga for physical reasons: to become fitter, leaner, more flexible, or perhaps to help treat a troublesome back.
For students in the East, however - as well as for growing number of Western practitioners - yoga's emphasis on bringing body and mind together through the breath is at least as important as the pursuit of a toned torso.
One of the classic yoga texts, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, offers this definition: "Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively toward an object and sustain that direction without any distraction".
Essentially, yoga teaches that body and mind are very much united - and that both come together through the breath.
As well as the physical benefits that yoga's postures (or asanas) promote, this awareness of the breath helps students to remain focused "on the moment" and therefore aware of their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
On a purely physical level, however, yoga's huge benefits include: increased strength. Posture and flexibility; healthier lungs and heart; lowering of blood pressure; improved digestion; sounder sleep, and an enhanced immune system.
Psychologically and emotionally, the rewards can be equally far-reaching. They include: lower levels of anxiety and depression; a more stable mood; a better memory; and increased levels of self-acceptance, awareness and tolerance.
Getting started
So what is the best way to get started? One of the beauties of yoga is that, apart from a mat and some loose, comfortable clothes, virtually anyone, of any age, can do it - and very little is needed to get going.
Beginners should seek out a good, qualified yoga teacher to start with. There are plenty of informative books and DVDs available too, and these are often very useful, but should primarily be used to bolster regular practice with a teacher.
Most yoga classes incorporate a series of asanas that include warm up exercises, standing poses, sitting poses, twists, inverted postures and backbends. There is also likely to be a few minutes at the beginning or end of the class where the focus is just on meditation and breathing (it's often said that without the breath, students are doing exercises, not yoga).
One of the best pieces of advice is that finding a yoga class, style and teacher that you like could take time: teachers' individual approach vary hugely, and you may need to try a few classes before finding one you really take to.
It's important to remember that attitude is more important than physical attainment: yoga is not competitive, and it's not a sport. Start your practice with few expectations and an open mind. One of the joys lies in seeing where the journey takes you.
The main styles of yoga:
-
Hatha - a classical style of yoga from which many others originated.
-
Sivananda - an ancient form of yoga based on a set of 12 postures and five principles: proper exercise, proper breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet and positive thinking.
-
Kundalini - a focus on awakening the kundalini (or energy) at the base of the spine.
-
Ashtanga (also spelt Astanga) - a fast, flowing, challenging, style, great for an aerobic workout. Not suitable for beginners.
-
Iyengar - less emphasis on breathing, more on correct alignment. Props are use to help this.
-
Bikram - a series of poses practised in 104 degree heat. Not for the faint-hearted.
By Lucia Cockcroft - editor
Picture source: Wellbeing Escapes
