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Cultivating the Right Attitude

Yoga encourages you to examine all your basic attitudes toward life to discover which ones are dysfunctional so that you can replace them with more appropriate ones. One attitude worth cultivating is balance in everything, which is a top yogic virtue (refer to Book I, Chapter 1). A balanced attitude in this context means that you’re willing to build up your yoga practice step by step instead of expecting instant perfection. It also means not basing your practice on incorrect assumptions, including the notion that yoga is about tying yourself in knots. On the contrary, yoga loosens all your bodily, emotional, and intellectual knots. This sections gives you some guidelines for getting in the right yoga mindset.

Leave pretzels for snack time

Many people are turned off by magazine covers showing photographs of experts in advanced postures with their limbs tied in knots. What these publications may fail to disclose is that most of these yogis and yoginis have practiced yoga several hours a day for many years to achieve their level of skill. You don’t have to be a pretzel to experience the undeniable benefits of yoga. The benefit you derive from yoga comes from practicing at a level appropriate for you, not from striking an advanced or “ideal” form.

Practice at your own pace

Some people are natural pretzels. If you (like most) aren’t inherently noodlelike, regular practice can increase your flexibility and muscular strength. Take a graduated approach. In Book II, you can find all the preparatory and intermediary steps that lead up to the final forms for the various postures. The late yoga master T. S. Krishnamacharya of Chennai (Madras), India, the source of most of the best-known orientations of modern Hatha Yoga, emphasized tailoring yoga instruction to the needs of each individual and advised yoga teachers to take into account a student’s age, physical ability, emotional state, and occupation. Follow this sound advice: Proceed gently but steadfastly.

Note: In this book, the exercise descriptions include all the stages of developing comfort with a particular posture. Why? Because asking a middle-aged newcomer to yoga to imitate the final form of many of the postures without providing suitable transitions and adaptations is a prescription for disaster. For instance, in many books on Hatha Yoga, you see the headstand featured quite prominently. This posture has become something of a symbol for yoga in the West. Headstands are powerful postures, to be sure, but they also count among the more advanced poses. Because this book emphasizes exercises that are both feasible and safe, it doesn’t include the headstand. Instead, you find several adaptations that are easier to perform and have no risk attached.

Send the scorekeeper home

American children often grow up in a highly competitive environment. From childhood on, they’re pressured to do more, push harder, and win. Young athletes grow up with the spirit of competition. Although competition has its place in society, this type of competitive behavior has no place in the practice of yoga.

The idea of no pain, no gain — a completely mistaken notion — often reinforces competitiveness. Although pain and discomfort are part of life, you don’t have to invite them. The goal of yoga is to still the mind and experience freedom and liberation from suffering. Yoga is about peace, compassion, and harmony — the exact opposite of the competitive mindset. Yoga doesn’t require you to fight against anyone, least of all yourself, or to achieve some goal by force. On the contrary, you’re invited to be kind to yourself and others and, above all, to collaborate with your body rather than coerce it or do battle with your mind. Therefore, never flog your body; only coax it gently. Follow the motto “No gain from pain.”

Picture yourself in the posture

Use visualization when executing postures. For example, before you do the cobra (Book II, Chapter 7), shoulder stand (Book II, Chapter 6), or triangle (Book II, Chapter 3) — or any pose, for that matter — take 10 seconds or so to visualize yourself moving into the final posture. Make your visualization as vivid as possible. Enlist the powers of your mind!

Enjoying a Peaceful and Safe Yoga Practice

As you travel through yogic postures, you begin to build awareness of the communications taking place between your body and mind. Do you feel peacefully removed from the raging storm of life around you, comfortable and confident with your strength, range of motion, flexibility, and steadiness? Or are you painfully noting the slow passage of time, sensing a physical awkwardness or strain in your movements? To help make your yoga experience an expression of peace, calm, and security, listen to your own feelings and sensations, and acknowledge their importance. That positive message is what yoga practice is all about.

Busting the perfect posture myth

The perfect posture is a perfect myth. How can the same posture be perfect for both a 15-year-old athlete and a 60-year-old retiree? As the great yoga master Patanjali explained nearly 2,000 years ago, posture has only two requirements: A posture should be steady and easeful:

Steady posture: A steady posture is a posture that you hold stable for a certain period of time. The key isn’t freezing all movement, though. Your posture becomes steady when your mind is steady. As long as your thoughts run wild, including your negative emotions, your body also remains unsteady. As you become more skilled in self-observation, you begin to notice the ever-revolving carousel of your mind and become sensitive to the tension in your body. That tension is what yoga means by unsteadiness.
Easeful posture: A posture is easeful when it’s enjoyable and enlivening rather than boring and burdensome. An easeful posture increases the principle of clarity — sattva — in you. But easefulness isn’t slouching. Sattva and joy are intimately connected. The more sattva is present in your body-mind, the more relaxed and happy you are.

Listening to your body

No one knows your body like you do. The more you practice yoga, the better you become at determining your limitations, as well as your strengths, within each posture. Each posture presents its own unique challenges. You want to feel encouraged to explore and expand your physical and emotional boundaries without risking strain or injury to yourself.

Some teachers speak of practicing at the edge, the point at which the intensity of a posture challenges you but doesn’t cause you pain or unusual discomfort. The idea is to slowly and carefully push that edge farther back and open up new territory. Cultivate self-observation and pay attention to the feedback from your body to be able to practice at the edge.

Each yoga session is an exercise in self-observation without judgment. Listen to what your body is telling you. Train yourself to become aware of the signals that continually travel from your muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and skin to your brain. Be in dialogue with your body instead of indulging in a mental monologue that excludes bodily awareness. Pay particular attention to signals coming from your neck, lower back, jaw muscles, abdomen, and any known problem or tension areas of your body. Here are some suggestions:

If your breathing becomes labored, it usually indicates that, figuratively, you’re going over the edge and you may want to back off.
Beginners commonly experience trembling when holding certain yoga postures. Normally, the involuntary motion is noticeable in the legs or arms and is nothing to worry about, as long as you aren’t straining. The tremors are simply a sign that your muscles are working in response to a new demand. Instead of focusing on the feeling that you’ve become a wobbly bowl of jelly, lengthen your breath a little, if you can, and allow your attention to go deeper within. If the trembling starts to go off the Richter scale, either ease up a little or end the posture altogether.

Moving slowly but surely

Most people are usually on automatic with movements that tend to be unconscious, too fast, and not particularly graceful. But all postural movements in yoga are intended to be executed slowly. Consider the advantages of slow motion:

Enhanced awareness, which enables you to listen to what your body is telling you and to practice at the edge.
Safer practice. Slowing down lowers the risk of straining or spraining muscles, tearing ligaments, and overtaxing your heart.
Arrival at a deep stage of relaxation more quickly.
Improved breathing and breathing stamina.
Shared workload among more muscle groups.

For the best results, practice your postures at a slow, steady pace while calmly focusing on your breath and the postural movement (flip to Book II, Chapter 1 for more info on breathing and movement). Resist the temptation to speed up; instead, savor each posture. Relax and be present here and now. If your breathing becomes labored or you begin to feel fatigued, rest until you’re ready to go on.

If you find yourself rushing through your program, pause and ask yourself, “Why the hurry?” Here are some strategies that can help you slow down:

If you’re truly short on time, shorten your program and focus on fewer postures. But if you just can’t shake the feeling of being pressured by time, consider postponing your yoga session altogether and practice conscious breathing (discussed in Book II, Chapter 1) while you go about your other business.
If you’re rushing through your program because you’re feeling bored or generally distracted, pause and remind yourself why you’re practicing yoga in the first place. Renew your motivation by telling yourself that you have plenty of time to complete your session.
Boredom is a sign that you’re detached from your own bodily experience and aren’t living in the present moment. Participate fully in the process. As Book II, Chapter 1 explains, full yogic breathing in one of the resting postures has a wonderful calming effect. If you need more than a mental reminder, use one of the relaxation techniques in Book VII, Chapter 2 to slow yourself down.

Practicing function over form with Forgiving Limbs

In yoga, as in life, function is more important than form. The function, not the form, of the posture gives you its benefits. Beginners in particular need to adapt postures to enjoy their function and benefits right from the start.

One useful adaptive device is Forgiving Limbs. With Forgiving Limbs, you give yourself permission to slightly bend your legs and arms instead of keeping them fully extended. Bent arms and legs enable you to move your spine more easily, which is the focus of many postures and the key to a healthy spine.

For example, the primary mechanical function of a standing forward bend is to stretch your lower back. If you have a good back, take a moment to see what how Forgiving Limbs works; this adapted posture is safe for beginners:

Stand up straight and, without forcing anything, bend forward and try to place your head on your knees, with the palms of your hands on the floor (see Figure 3-1a), or hold the backs of your ankles.

Few people can actually do this, especially beginners.
Now stand up again, separate your feet to hip width, and bend forward, allowing your legs to bend until you can place your hands on the floor and almost touch your head to your knees (see Figure 3-1b).

When bending forward, be sure not to bounce up and down, as most people are inclined to do. You’re not a bungee cord!

*Photographs by Adam Latham*

Figure 3-1: Standing forward bend without and with Forgiving Limbs.

As you become more flexible — and you will! — gradually straighten your legs until you can come closer to the ideal posture.

Putting safety first

The most important factor for determining the safety of a yoga class is your personal attitude. If you participate with the understanding that you aren’t competing against the other students or trying to impress the teacher, and that you also must not inflict pain upon yourself, you can enjoy a safe yoga practice.

If you haven’t exercised for a while, you can expect to encounter your body’s resistance at the beginning. You may even feel a little working soreness the next day, which just reflects your body’s efforts and its adjustment to the new adventure. But try to avoid discomfort that causes you distress or increases the likelihood of injury.

The key to avoiding injury is to proceed gently; better to err on the side of gentleness than to face torn ligaments. Always ease into the postures and work creatively with your body’s physical resistance. Nonharming is an important moral virtue in yoga, and observing this foremost yoga principle applies not just to how you treat others but also to how you treat yourself!

Make sure you’re physically ready before you begin this new venture with yoga — or any fitness activity, for that matter. Here are some pointers:

If you have an existing health challenge, consult your doctor before embarking on your new activity. Keep in mind that one of the bounties of yoga is that you can benefit from it even if your medical history includes hypertension, heart problems, arthritis, or chronic back pain. You just need to approach it with respect for your body’s needs and limits as well as its possibilities.
If you have any physical limitations (recent surgeries; knee, neck, or back problems; and so on), be sure to inform the center and the teacher beforehand. In a classroom setting, instructors have to split their attention among many students; your upfront communication can help prevent personal injury.
If a teacher insists that you do an exercise or a routine that feels very uncomfortable or that you think may hurt you, take a break on your mat or, if that isn’t possible, just walk out of the class. Try to stay cool, and register your complaint with the school afterward. Fortunately, this situation rarely happens.
If you have any serious physical limitations or concerns, consider working closely with a competent yoga therapist to create just the right routines and to monitor your progress.

Ready, Set, Yoga: Dealing with the Practicalities

This section gives you everything you need to prepare for your yoga practice, whether you opt to take part in a class or practice solo. Here you discover information about the gear you want to have, how to find enough time to practice, how to cultivate an attitude that helps you get the most out of your practice, and more.

Finding suitable yoga instruction

Although you can explore some basic practices by reading about them (this book makes sure of that!), a full-fledged, safe yoga routine really requires proper instruction from a qualified teacher. This section helps you determine what kind of class to seek out.

Most people go for group instruction, but if you can afford private lessons, even a few sessions can be extremely beneficial. Importantly, if you have a serious health challenge, you need to work privately with a yoga therapist. After a few classes and with the benefit of an instructor’s step-by-step guidance, you can certainly continue practicing and exploring yoga on your own (see the section “Going for it on your own” later in this chapter). Indeed, practicing on your own between classes is a great way to solidify yoga as an integral part of your life. However, if your solo practice is in lieu of class attendance, consider checking in with a teacher every so often, just to make sure you haven’t acquired any bad habits in your practice style along the way.

Checking out centers, classes, and teachers

These days, it seems you can find a yoga class on every corner in large cities, so urbanites have lots of choices. But even country folks should be able to find an option that works.

Check out your local YMCA/YWCA, adult education center, or local health club to see what any of these has to offer. (If you go the health club route, however, make sure the teacher is really qualified. How much training has he had? Has she been certified by a recognized or registered yoga teacher training school or instructor?) You can also explore online yoga sites that offer taped or streamed yoga classes. Many sites offer classes in a range of styles for a variety of abilities and preferences.

Why not put the word out that you’re looking? You may get lots of referrals and suggestions. You can also search online for studios and classes in your area.

Visit a few places and teachers before you commit to a course or a series of classes. When you visit a yoga center or classroom, pay attention to how the staff treats you and how you respond to the people attending class. Stroll around the facility and feel its overall energy. First impressions are often (although not always) accurate. Some teachers even let you quietly look in on a class, although others find this practice too distracting for their students.

When checking out a yoga center, don’t hesitate to ask questions of the instructor or other staff members about any concerns you have. In particular, find out what style of Hatha Yoga the center offers. Some styles — notably Ashtanga, or Power, Yoga — demand athletic fitness (head to Book IV for more on Power Yoga). Others embody a more relaxed and adaptable approach. If you’re not familiar with the style of a particular school, don’t hesitate to ask for an explanation (check out the explanation of styles in Book I, Chapter 1). Yoga practitioners are usually pretty friendly folk, eager to answer your questions and put your mind at ease.

Getting an impression of the teacher

A good yoga teacher is an example of what yoga is all about: a balanced person who’s skillful in the postures, courteous of and thoughtful toward others, and adaptive and attentive to everyone’s individual needs in class. Check out the teacher’s credentials to be sure she has been properly trained or is certified in one of the established traditions.

Steer clear of teachers who have taken only a few workshops on yoga or received their diplomas after a three-day course. They may be excellent aerobics instructors who know nothing about yoga. Also avoid the drill sergeant type or anyone who makes you feel intimidated about your level of skill in performing the postures. By the way, under no circumstances must you allow your instructor to push or coerce you into a posture that doesn’t feel right or that causes you pain.

Making sure the course fits your experience level

If you’re a beginner, look for a beginner’s course. You’re likely to feel more comfortable in a group that’s starting at the same skill level instead of being surrounded by advanced practitioners who can perform difficult postures easily and elegantly. Beginner’s classes are sometimes advertised as Easy Does It Yoga or Gentle Yoga.

As a beginner, stay away from overly large classes (more than 20 students) or mixed-level classes that lump together yoga freshmen with postgraduates. Though some highly skilled and experienced teachers can manage such classes well, chances are that the teacher can’t give you the attention you need to ensure your safety. If you find yourself as a newbie in a large class, let the teacher know you’re a beginner, and bring up any physical limitations you may have. Then stake out a spot where the instructor can observe you throughout the class, or at least from time to time.

Taking cost into account

In general, group yoga classes are pretty affordable. The cheapest classes are usually available at adult education centers and at community and senior centers. YWCA classes also tend to be reasonably priced. If you have a health club membership, check to see whether your gym includes free yoga classes as part of the package. Most regular yoga centers in metropolitan areas charge an average of $15 to $20 per class; some offer package deals that can lower the cost per class. A one-time drop-in fee (for anyone who hasn’t committed to taking more than one class) is usually a few dollars higher. Some schools offer the first class free, and others may charge as much as $25. On the other end, many yoga studios now offer community classes at a reduced fee or on a donation basis. Obviously, private lessons are quite a bit more expensive than group classes and range from $50 to $250.

When you’re considering a commitment to a yoga center, check into the larger packages — they’re often a good investment.

Deciding what to wear and packing your yoga class kit

Yoga practitioners wear a wide variety of exercise clothing. When selecting your own yoga wardrobe, your most important consideration needs to be whether the clothing allows you to move and breathe freely. Another practical matter is dressing for the temperature of the room. Have an extra layer that you can wear in the beginning until you warm up and that you can put back on toward the end as you cool down.

Although many yoga centers furnish mats as well as blocks, straps, blankets, and bolsters, consider bringing your own if you’re serious about your yoga practice (and if you’re concerned about hygiene). Note, however, that not every teacher uses props to the same extent, and the need for these various yoga helpers varies with the style of the class (as discussed in Book I, Chapter 1) and the teacher’s preferences.

Before attending a class, find out what kind of floor it practices on. If the floor is carpeted, a towel or a sticky mat works. A hardwood floor may require more padding, especially if your knees are sensitive. In that case, bring along a thick yoga mat or a rug remnant that’s a little longer than your height and a little wider than your shoulders. A folded blanket is also helpful if you need a pad under your head when you’re lying down. If you tend to get cold, bring along a blanket to cover yourself during final relaxation. You want to make this item your own because you use it not just for support but also to cover your body.

Making time for yoga practice

For centuries, the traditional time for yoga practice has been sunrise and sunset, which are thought to be especially auspicious. Today’s busy lifestyles, however, can undermine your best intentions, so be pragmatic and arrange your yoga practice at your convenience. Just keep in mind that, statistically, you have a 30 percent greater chance of accomplishing a fitness goal if you practice in the morning. More important than holding tight to a preset time is just making sure that you work yoga into your schedule somewhere — and stick with it.

Practicing at roughly the same time during the day can help you create a positive habit, which may make maintaining your routine easier. Experiment to see what works in your life, and stick to it. Mix and match from these suggestions:

A short daily practice of 10 to 15 minutes
A yoga class two or three times per week
Short breathing and meditation breaks throughout the day

The amount of time you dedicate to yoga is a personal choice — no need to feel guilty about your decision. Guilt is counterproductive and has no place in yoga practice.

Going for it on your own

If you live in an isolated area and don’t have easy access to a yoga instructor or class, don’t be disheartened. You still have several choices that can help you begin your yogic journey. Here’s some advice:

Video, DVD, and so on: If you opt for this particular approach, consider this recommendation: After you learn a routine, begin listening only to the instructor’s voice rather than focusing on the screen. Yoga emphasizes more inner work than outer activity, and watching the screen interferes with this process. Listening to a disembodied voice works better. (According to yoga, the eye is an active and even aggressive sense, whereas the ear is a more passive receptor.) CDs can also work well for this reason, as long as they’re accompanied by informative illustrations.
Books and magazines: You may find that you prefer a good yoga book to magazine or newspaper articles, simply because creating a book usually requires more in-depth, detailed consideration of subject matter and presentation. Plus, books have fewer advertisements taking up valuable space than periodicals do. But don’t discount the value of a newsletter from a backyard yoga studio. The publication can be a real find if it comes from a legitimate source.

The difficulty with self-tutoring at the beginning is that you may have trouble judging good form from bad — and by good, read “safe.” A good form is also one that helps you build your foundation for more advanced practice, not one that aims to fit the common stereotype of what yoga is “supposed to” look like. You need time to understand how your body responds to the challenge of a posture and determine the proper adjustments for your body’s own optimal form.

Some people use a mirror to check the postures, but that tells only one side of the story. More importantly, it externalizes the whole process too much. Become comfortable with checking from the inside, through inwardly feeling your body. Until you’re proficient at doing so, seek out a competent instructor if at all possible. Another person sees you objectively — from all sides — and can thus give you valuable feedback about your body’s specific resistances and requirements.

Preparing for a Fruitful Yoga Practice