I've never tried yoga, but I've heard all kinds of great things about it and considering my anxiety problem and the fact that I am determined to get my body in shape, it makes all kinds of sense. Any tips or suggestions on where to get started. I'd like to do this from home.
Riley! Thank you for that! I DO have a gymnastics background and still have the "gym legs". Maybe I should stick with my core training...
I would highly recommend that you use a class first so that you don't hurt yourself. Even the beginning yoga DVD's do hard stuff. An instructor will know when you are struggling and give you alternatives that the DVD won't do.
After you get used to it, then try it at home.
Good luck!
Dawn
I 2nd a class (or several classes... there are different types of yoga). Not forever, but just to start.
Personally, I'm bendy as all get out (I'm circus freak flexible), but I CANNOT do yoga. I had a dance and gymnastics upbringing... and my musclature cannot handle yoga. In dance/gymnastics you're strengthening certain muscles/joint connections, and stretching others. In yoga, it's ALMOST exactly the opposite. So when I tried yoga (each time... because I'm dumb) I've seriously injured myself. Not until LATER did I find that most gymnasts and dancers have to avoid yoga. Gee. Thanks universe.
So I just wanted to put that out there. If you have serious dance training or serious gymnastics training from your childhood... you will need to be VERY careful... or consider a different kind of sport.
i just started yoga late last year and really really like it. i'm not very well coordinated, and while i do run, i'm not very flexible so i like that it gives me a completely different sort of thing to do, and lovelovelove the incredible mind/body awareness it creates.
but you do have to be careful. we tend to think of yoga as gentle and 100% beneficial, but it can mess you up. i have bad knees and find that if i'm not very protective of them the lunges and poses can wreak havoc. i still do it, but i'm very conservative about it and never try to push my knees to do more than they're up for.
khairete
S.
I am not an exercise class kind of person. I have found several yoga episodes for free on hulu.com. I just started too and it does feel really good.
wear a close fitting shirt and bring a hand towel. it didn't occur to me on my first class that my baggy t-shirt and sports bra weren't going to work when doing downward dog! i also did not expect to sweat so much. i MUST have my sweat rag and a botlle of icy cold water with me when i go to yoga class. they have an excellent set of classes at the Y. They have it scheduled to give you variety in your workout. Yoga, kickbox, and spinning are offered 1 night a week each and Zumba 2 nights a wk. They have butts and guts class and lots of others. I like to mix it up, but Yoga is one of my favorites.
