Will Yoga Leave Me In Agony?
One thing that restricts a lot of people from taking up a new form of exercise is the age-old get-out clause. “If I take up yoga, will I wake up the day after my first class in incredible pain?” It is a fair question, and one which comes from the fact that most forms of exercise, when taken for the first time, work muscles that had until that time been somewhat underused. As a consequence, they are less flexible and you will be in some pain the day after you have exercised.
The truth is that yoga is not immune from this kind of outcome. It may be a mystically enhanced way of exercising, but it certainly is not too in tune with the cosmos to feel pain every once in a while. The pain that you get after jogging, or playing sports, when you wake up the next day, is known as DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It happens because the muscles are healing after they have been (slightly and temporarily) torn in order to grow stronger. If you feel immediate pain – and it happens, because we are human – and it is severe and sudden, then this is more likely to be a tear or a pull.
When you put your body through a demanding process, you take it outside its comfort zone and this can result in pain or injury. This does not mean that yoga is dangerous, merely that, like all exercise, it is not removed from the possibility of you suffering a little bit of pain. However the more you do, the less pain you will suffer.
Yoga – That’s For Women, Isn’t It?
One of the enduring stupidities of our time is the fact that people assume because a type of exercise is refined and not high-impact, it must be a form of exercise that is exclusively (or almost exclusively) for women. The fact is that as far as yoga is concerned, this really could not be further from the truth. In actuality, yoga is an exercise regime that suits everyone, and can be massively beneficial for men. Even the muscle men who enjoy lifting weights can benefit from doing yoga, so it really does not make sense to decry it as “just for women”.
If you look through some of the available literature, you will in fact note that large swathes of it are written by men who are influential teachers of the principles and the exercises of yoga. This should come as no surprise – there was a time not so long ago when you actually had to be male to be permitted to do yoga. So it would make no sense for anyone to assume that yoga was for women. Anyone can do it, unless they are so concerned with what people think that it puts them off.
Remember, people may think that you need to be flexible to practice yoga, but it doesn’t actually work that way. In actual fact, yoga improves your flexibility in a way that will give you a whole new lease of life. So in truth, although men are famously less flexible than women, a few classes of yoga will get you into much better shape in general.
Yoga For Weight Loss – How Does It Work?
One of the major aspects of any keep-fit regime for its practitioners is the importance of weight loss. There can be no doubting the focus that seems to be placed on the weight-loss aspect – a lot of people are overweight and unhappy about the fact. Many will look at yoga and wonder how it can impact upon a weight-loss program. The truth of the matter is that the classic forms of yoga which are recognizable to most people may not directly assist weight loss. However, if performed correctly, yoga can certainly be a foundation stone in a keep-fit program with weight loss as a major plank.
For anyone seeking to lose weight, it is vital to eat healthily so that you get the nutrients you will need and then add exercise to burn calories. Most of the popular forms of yoga practiced in the West are not cardio-vascular exercises (the kind which raises your heart rate in order to burn calories). They do, however, increase your core strength and breath control and this in turn will make it easier to do running, jogging and other forms of cardiovascular exercise that will burn fat.
If the demands on your time are such that you cannot add two types of exercise to your weekly regime, then you may be interested in Vinyasa or “flow yoga” – a style of exercise which is markedly more athletic than the classic forms and involves more exacting poses. A spell of this form of yoga will get you much closer to the weight loss you are seeking.
The Mysticism Of Yoga – A Necessary Part Of The Plan?
One thing that is well known about yoga is that the exercises are informed by principles of meditation, and that for many people the exercises and the meditation go hand in hand. The idea of inner strength on a spiritual and physical level is one that will catch the attention of lots of people. Is it, however, fully necessary for the person who is just trying to keep fit to use the meditative aspect of yoga? Or is that aspect just an add-on which, while useful, is not for everyone?
It is undeniable that meditation is a part of yoga. However, it is far from being a necessity. Many people do find that repeating a mantra while they do the exercises helps them to clear their mind and focus on the exercises – that it rids their minds of the everyday stresses and strains which return again and again to prey on your mind as you seek to relax into the exercises. What you choose as a mantra is up to you – although out of respect to the other people in a class, it is wise to keep it quiet if it is silly or vulgar.
If you have no trouble clearing your mind, then there is no real reason you need to even have a mantra. The main thing is that you really do the exercises fully, experience the process and feel the good that it is doing. Once you have that side of things down, the rest is simply a matter of waiting for the benefits of yoga to truly come through. It will benefit your physical, mental and emotional strength – something which cannot be said for every exercise regime.