Yoga is well proven to relieve stress and create well being by using postures and breathing that unify the mind, body, and spirit. If you are thinking of beginning yoga, these tips will help you on the road to a sustainable yoga practice and more fulfilled and healthy life.

1. Take time to find a yoga class that best fits your abilities and objectives. Talk to prospective teachers and their students and explain what your needs and limitations are. Ask them if the style of yoga they teach is a good match for you. Also get a sense of who the teacher is and if they feel compatible for you. You might even ask if you can sit in and watch a class before you join or at least try a class to see their teaching style. It is very important to take it one step at a time and finding the right teacher teaching the right style is vital.

2. Take your time and avoid competitiveness to move ahead too quickly. Give your body time to adjust to your new practice and enjoy noticing the gradual changes. Learn to listen to your body and develop awareness of your physical abilities and limitations. Remember it’s a process there is no goal. Communicate with your teacher if you have questions and let them know any limitations you may have. Especially let them know any physical or medical conditions you have, they may rule out specific poses if you have high blood pressure, glaucoma, a history of retinal detachment, or heart disease for example.

3. Remember, this is supposed to be fun and relaxing, if it isn’t making you feel good identify why so you can find exactly what you need.

4. If you can’t find a class that meets your needs, why not try private lessons? You can book some one-on-one sessions with a teacher in your area. Many yoga teachers offer private instruction and can design a program specifically for you. While more expensive this is a great way to jump start your learning. You can move on to group lessons or personal practice at home after you’ve done private lessons and learned a solid foundation to build on

5. Find a yoga buddy. Its nice to go to class and practice with someone. You will both support and encourage each other to stick with it so it’s a great way to keep up your enthusiasm and interest.

6. Eat lightly before doing yoga practice and drink plenty of water afterwards. The scriptures say it is best Wait two hours after meals before doing yoga practice. This is because generally a meal takes two hours to fully digest and your body can complete that process. Equally it’s not a good idea to practice when you are hungry as your mind won’t be clear and then injuries are possible.

7: Once you’ve found a teacher and style that works for you make a commitment to attending for at least two months, this will give you time to make some progress and really begin to appreciate the benefits. This in turn becomes a major encouragement to make yoga practice a regular part of your life.

       

In our little college town, one of the most popular fitness trends over the past few years has been yoga. Friends and acquaintances often suggest we join them in their favorite class, claiming not only that we’ll get stronger and more flexible, but that we’ll feel better about ourselves.

But Greta and I both have fitness routines that work well for us. I like to go for a morning run, I bike, and I play soccer, and Greta not only walks for 30 minutes on the treadmill every day, she also walks to and from work, 1.3 miles each way. Despite our assurances that we enjoy these things, devout yoga fans seem convinced that we’re missing out on something: a chance to improve our self-esteem.

Despite all the hype about yoga and self esteem, there hasn’t been a lot of research demonstrating a connection, especially in comparison to other forms of exercise. But Steriani Elavsky and Edward McAuley have conducted a new study comparing yoga to walking. They recruited 164 women age 42 to 56, with offers of a free fitness program. At the study outset, all the women were paid $20 to undergo both psychological testing for measures such as their body image, physical self-esteem, and global-self esteem, as well as physical measures like weight and body fat percentage. Then they were randomly divided into three groups: yoga, walking, and control (no exercise).

       

EVERY day activities like swimming, doing a gym workout or playing a musical instrument could be making pressure-related eye diseases worse, Australian research says.

Rubbing the eyes has been proven to contribute to conditions like glaucoma and short-sightedness, but eye specialists have discovered many other basic behaviours also increase risk.

“Yoga head stands, weightlifting, sleeping face down, playing instruments like the trumpet and swimming laps are some of the many ways of causing eye pressure spikes,” said Professor Charles McMonnies, from the University of New South Wales School of Optometry and Vision Science.

“Pressure spikes are fine if you have healthy eyes. But all the people out there with these conditions, and so many others at risk of them, can be negatively affected, and many don’t know it.”

Glaucoma affects more than 300,000 Australians, causing blindness as the disease progresses, while rapidly increasing myopia, or short-sightedness, affects almost one in five people.

Prof McMonnies tested the effects of eye rubbing and compared the pressure effects with other activities in a paper published in the journal Optometry and Vision Science.

He found eye rubbing caused the biggest spike, raising pressure to ten times normal levels, but may be only an occasional harmless event.

The literature review found the risk may be higher for activities carried out regularly and for long periods, like wearing goggles while swimming lengths.

People who play a high wind-resistance instrument like a trumpet, oboe, French horn or bassoon, especially when they play high-pitched notes, can more than double their eye pressure.

Weight-lifting from a bench, doing sit ups on a slant board or upside down poses in yoga also increase pressure, Prof McMonnies said.

Sleeping face down was another major contributor that most people were unaware of, he said.

“Avoiding sleeping with the eyes in contact with a pillow or sleep mask may help to slow the progression of pressure-sensitive eye diseases,” the specialist said.