Indonesia Expat
Sports/Health

Yoga : Where Do I Begin?

So it just dawned upon you that it is now 2012, and you have procrastinated a resolution of “doing sports regularly” for (yet) another year; something you told yourself to do at the beginning of last year (or maybe even a year before last).

Instead of beating yourself up, better make your mind up yet another time this year, and stick to it. If yoga is one of your choices of sport then this post can be helpful.

Firstly, find a beginner class in a gym or a yoga studio that is most convenient though in a city like Jakarta this may be a little challenging. You can decide to either go for a slow or faster-paced class but do make sure that the instructor is certified to teach, and knows what he/she is doing and how to guide a beginner in the class.
It is fine if you do not own any yoga mats as most studios prepare them for use at the centers. Do not get busy trying to purchase a yoga mat and all the fancy accessories that you see on the yoga magazines without knowing what their uses are, lest the effort be reduced in another procrastination. All you need is to come in comfortable stretchable clothes.

Next, know what to expect.
A common misconception of a yoga lesson some may have is that they can get bored and fall asleep during class. Those who are more familiar with yoga will certainly know that this is ignorant thinking (although there is a possibility for a power nap to take place at the end of the session). Expect to sweat!
A typical yoga class will start with a simple cross-legged upright sitting with eyes closed to concentrate in coordinating between which muscles to relax and what to focus on, in a simple breathing exercise. This will not take longer than five minutes.

A good yoga sequence will start with stretching and warming up poses. They are usually followed by more dynamic or intense poses where one must stretch, extend, lift, raise, brace, twist, ground and bend part(s) of the body in the process. In any point, you may be allowed to rest in a pose shown and given to you. Subsequently the poses will get back to a slower pace, usually combined with sitting poses to wind down.

And at last, the final relaxation where the participants are asked to lie down still on the mats facing up with eyes closed. This is a resting pose that is given in the last five to ten minutes of the class for the body to recover its energy. Although resting here does not mean sleeping, some people just cannot help but doze off. A teacher or fellow students will always understand when that happens, and yeah, if it makes you feel energized after the class, why not? There will always be other times to lie still and listen more carefully on the instructions on what actually are to be done during the anticipated so-called corpse pose at the end of each yoga session.

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