Smart & Simple Tips To Practice Yoga At Home

Yoga is not just a form of exercise; it has rightly been identified as the new way of life. Combined with the art of meditation, yoga goes a long way in improving the overall quality of life. While there are a number of institutes that provide training in yoga, it is best if you can perform yoga at home as per your own convenience.

The best time to practice it is early morning. Of course, while there is no specific time that is needed for yoga, performing it early morning is recommended due to the calming effect that it has on the mind. At the same time, the relaxing effect of yoga can be felt throughout the day. When performing yoga at home, a few important points that you must keep in mind are as follows:

  • Select a location that is quiet and serene as well as that provides ample of fresh air. For this purpose, yoga in the open air is recommended. At the same there must be no distractions or loud noises.
  • Empty your stomach and clear your throat and nostrils of mucus.
  • Begin exercises by consuming a glass of lukewarm water.
  • Don't hurry into doing the various asanas. It is important to begin with the lighter exercises and gradually move up to tougher ones.
  • If you are attempting yoga for the first time, it is recommended to get trained under a Guru. This would help you get your poses correct and avoid any health hazards.
  • If you are performing yoga in a room, ensure that it is well-ventilated and the temperature is normal.
  • A balanced meal is a must. For this reason, several yoga trainers advise a satvik i.e. a vegetarian meal. Overeating is not allowed and a minimum gap of 4 hours per meal should be taken.
  • For the asanas that require sitting or lying down, keep a mat made of natural products handy.

Similar to yoga, the process of meditation can be easily performed at home. In fact spending some quality time by yourself and freeing your mind of worries help in the overall improvement of your health. It is interesting to note that even in everyday activities like eating, sleeping, music, we all perform some form of meditation or the other. In fact, this is one of the variants of relaxing your mind and is better known as active meditation. Together with this, the concept of passive meditation is known to control wandering thoughts and calm the mind. For meditating, a few important tips include:

  • Select a location that is free from disturbances and allows you to feel the fresh and clean air.
  • Lighting of incense is extremely popular for the calming effect it has.
  • Focus on a simple element, which could be the sound of birds, a bright flower or the light of a candle.
  • Initially you might feel difficult to control your mind from wandering. This is completely normal and would probably go away after a few regular sessions.
  • A marked difference in your ability to focus and concentrate would be visible in a few days.

When performed in the right manner, yoga and meditation go a long way in enriching your soul. Some of their most important benefits are:

  • Spiritual enhancement
  • Improve physical conditions, such as high blood pressure, reducing anxiety attacks, treating muscle cramps, headache, arthritis and allergies.
  • Treating pre-menstrual symptoms in women and reducing weight after child-birth.
  • Improve the immunity system.
  • Regularize breathing.
  • Boost self-confidence.

In today's times yoga and its training have become vital. A number of institutes provide yoga certification courses that can help you to even teach this art to other people. There are several levels to this course and the programs might be intensive, lasting for a month or two, or extensive, lasting between 6 months and a year. These institutes offer training in several spheres of yoga, including yoga for children, yoga for the old, yoga for women and yoga for pregnant women.

Whether you visit an institute or practice yoga at home, remember that yoga requires the mind to work more than the body. As such, you must make an extra effort to prevent your mind from getting bogged down with thoughts at these times. The benefits that you derive from these go a long way in ensuring you a healthy body, soul and life.