What should I practice at home?

After our first class, some students asked me what poses I recommend for them to practice at home.  I am glad to offer some suggestions, as long as it is understood that the best way to approach yoga practice is to go to the mat and try to follow your own cues. It can be a wonderful way to confirm and integrate the knowledge you gained in class, and the very effort to remember the postures you just learned will be its own reward.


So, for the beginner, a couple of suggestions:


Establish a practice space at home.
Roll out your mat and claim it.
It is nice to have an empty wall nearby,
but not essential.


Practicing for 10-20 minutes several times
a week is preferable to one protracted hour-and-a-half
practice per week.


Poses from our first class:


Warm up on the floor with
Cat Pose  Viralasana


Child Pose  Balasana

Downward Facing Dog Pose

Urdvha Mukha Svanasana

Transition with
Surya Namaskar:
Flow sequence with
standing forward bend,
lunge, rocking back and forth.
Get the breath coordinated with the movements.


Downward Facing Dog Pose
Urdvha Mukha Svanasana
(Yes, practice it again!  You can't do too many!)


Standing poses:
Triangle Pose Uttitha Trikonasana


Extended Side Angle Stretch Parsvakonasa


Tree Pose  Vrksasana


Standing Forward Bend
Uttanasana


Backbend:
Bridge Pose  Setu Banda Sarvangasana


Reclined twist of any variety


Corpse Pose Savasana


If you simply Google the names of these poses,
appropriate visuals and videos will come up.


See you on the mat!

Breathe

I think it is appropriate to begin with the subject of
breathing, which is so fundamental to all practices of yoga.

The following is a good basic breathing technique for beginners:

BREATH IS THE KEY TO YOGA


says Swami Sarvaananda, who teaches at the Integral Yoga ashram in Buckingham, Virginia. Full, even breathing is especially valuable for people with limited mobility, who often have chronically shallow breathing because they sit so much and tend to slump. A technique called Deergha Swaasam (Three-Part Breath) can help. At first, practice it for just a minute, then gradually build to 5 minutes. 

• Relax and exhale completely, imagining that you're releasing all the tensions and impurities from your body. 
  

• Inhale deeply through the nose in three stages: First, fill the lower lungs so the belly swells like a balloon, then the middle lungs, and finally the upper lungs. 
  

• Exhale though the nose in reverse order, emptying the upper lungs first, then the middle lungs, and finally the lower lungs. 
  

Carol Krucoff, a yoga teacher and journalist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is coauthor, with her husband, Mitchell Krucoff, M.D., of Healing Moves: How to Cure, Relieve, and Prevent Common Ailments with Exercise (Writers' Collective, 2004), www.healingmoves.com.