Yoga for Weight Loss

Most would not think about yoga for weight loss but it is a good way to go for many..

If you’ve ever wondered whether practicing yoga can effectively make you lose weight, now is the perfect time to find out.

Although losing weight is not easy for everyone, with the right kind of attitude and discipline, it becomes less of an ordeal and more of a pleasant reality that can be acquired.Using yoga for weight loss can provide you with the discipline you need to succeed.

How Yoga Can Promote Weight Loss

1. Stimulates the Liver

Your liver has many essential functions, chief of which is to process nutrients from food that you eat. Other functions include the removal of toxins from your body, bile production, and protein building. Certain activities, such as drinking alcohol, can overload the liver. Infections can also make the liver lose its health and function poorly.

Yoga is an extremely powerful cleansing agent and detoxifier; it helps to purify your blood, and hasten fat processing by stimulating the liver. Having a healthy liver is greatly instrumental your body’s removal of unhealthy fats more easily, instead of storing them in your body.

2. Improves Heart Rate

People jog or run for a long time to get their heart rates up, believing that this makes their goal of losing weight more achievable. Research, however, has shown that this is a misconception, and is not a very good way to lose weight at all. It actually stresses the nervous system to the point of creating greater exhaustion, leading to adrenal fatigue.

For better weight loss, your heart rate should be change in intervals, and raising the heart rate should happen in very short bursts – raising it, dropping down, and getting it up all over again. Yoga can make this form of “interval training” possible.

At this point, you can check out the videos to be able to do a round of poses such as “Low Runners Lunge” or the “High Lunge.” Do this for some time and for a few rounds you will feel that your heart rate is at its optimal level, without the exhausted feeling that could get from jogging or running.

3. Develops Strength

Moving your body for shortening or lengthening the muscles will help you lose weight. Muscles are active tissues that consume fat for energy. When you build your muscles, your stored fats get used for energy. That is why strength work is very good for losing weight.

Towards this end, doing yoga for weight loss by practicing proper arm balancing positions are great because the poses engage a lot of your muscles, not just the arms or shoulders, but also your abdominal muscles, your core, and your legs.

In essence, yoga can give a full body workout, depending on your selection of the poses that you hold. Proper breathing is also key to burning more energy as you assume the poses, and that, in turn, helps to remove fats from your body.

Other Yoga for Weight Loss Benefits Include:

  • Activating the internal heat in the nervous system
    Cleansing the colon
  • Creating the right amount of pH levels
  • Maintaining the right balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
  • Activating the thyroid gland

In the next article we’ll cover doing “Yoga Stretches” to get your blood flowing. If you have not done so already, be sure to subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter so that you can get access to the Hatha Yoga Video demonstrations and get started doing yoga for weight loss right away.

Doing Yoga for Women

Yoga for women comes with a host of benefits.

At the risk of sounding sexist, we have to ask this question to clear the air: is yoga all about cultivating emotional well-being? Is that the reason that yoga for women has been widely accepted?

Bollocks, as our dear neighbors from over the pond would say.

 Yoga for Women is Not Just About Emotions

Yoga is not just about pandering to the emotions. Women are not just about feelings and expressing them. Yoga is about getting fit, developing health and wellness. Women don’t just have emotions. Women think, women have a spiritual side that needs to be balanced, women have bodies that deserve to be taken care of, just the same as men do.

That’s the good ole threesome that Hatha Yoga focuses on evolving, towards a unified fulfillment: body – mind – spirit.

Does the mere thought of spirituality make you feel queasy? No worries. Keep in mind that yoga is a philosophy, a humanistic school of thought. Yoga is not a religion. Yoga develops mental, physical and spiritual (read: “inner you”) fitness. That’s why yoga for men, and yoga for women, are just as equally beneficial.

Yoga for Women: What’s the Deal?

So, if men and women can equally benefit from yoga, is there even a difference between yoga postures that either gender can practice?

Yes, there are differences and most of them are based on anatomical considerations and biological functions. For one thing, women can get pregnant. That condition precludes assuming certain Hatha Yoga poses that could put at risk the viability of the fetus that a woman is nurturing in her body, and trying to carry to term. For another, there are, initially, matters of suppleness to consider. Like it or not, it’s a fact that most women are limber than men.

This doesn’t mean though that it’s pointless for men to ever hope to achieve the same level of yoga-induced fitness that women are able to eventually acquire over time and dedicated practice.

See, those are the key words that weigh a lot: time and dedicated practice. Yoga is a process that moves from one level to another, until an ideal goal has been attained. Whether it is a woman or man practicing the poses is immaterial. The important thing is to achieve the fitness goals that have been predetermined.

Be sure to subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter to get access to the 70 Hatha Yoga Videos that go with this guide. Yoga for Women is a great idea and in the next article we’ll take a closer look at Yoga for Weight Loss” and just how effective it is for both men and women.

Doing Yoga for Men

Yoga for men is becomming more poplular in recent times.

For many years now, ever since it was introduced to the West, yoga has been mostly popular among women. While this is a good state of affairs, the fact that not as many men practice yoga is disappointing, to say the least. Yoga for men, at this point, continues to be an unusual concept of sorts.

There’s a notion that “yoga can’t be for men because it’s not active or challenging enough, as far as physical exertions are concerned.”

Right? Nope. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Yoga for Men – The Quest for Fitness

Striving to be fit, to attain health and wellness does not always require a certain level of aggressiveness or competitiveness, whether you are competing against others, or yourself.

If you’re male and you’re reading this, understand that you don’t necessarily have to be a grunting, heavily perspiring, excessively muscle flexing real-life version of He-Man, Master of the Universe all the time to prove that you are taking care of your body seriously.

In your quest for fitness, testosterone-driven activities such as competitive swimming, running marathons, weight lifting, and cross county cycling can do you good, no doubt about that. But can those activities also give you inner tranquility and mental acuity or keenness of thought?

That’s very much debatable.

Why Yoga for Men is Recommended

If you work in an office, think of someone who highly irritates you over there. It could be your boss, a co-worker, or even yourself. Maybe you don’t know how to express your dislike for certain systems, procedures or situations that are not conducive to your well-being without coming across as a totally aggressive and unreasonable Neanderthal.

Yoga helps you to focus your negative energy, and convert it to a positive way of thinking and dealing with things, in order to have a favorable outcome for yourself, as well as others around you. And when you are able to use your clear mind and focused logic to easily deal with stressful situations, then you achieve inner peace.

How’s that for a triple home-run?

Mountain biking across the whole country can’t do that for you. Neither can lifting all the weights in the world, but doing yoga for men most certainly can. In the previous article we talked a little bit about doing basic yoga poses. Be sure to subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter to get access to the 70 Hatha Yoga Videos that go with this guide. Next we’ll look at “Yoga for Women” and the development of harmonious and beautiful proportions.

Doing Basic Yoga Poses

Four basic yoga poses that you can start with now.

Your actual initiation into the world of Hatha Yoga begins not at the moment that you started to read this ebook. Rather, your initiation starts when you begin to assume the postures that are integral to practicing yoga. In this chapter, we present four basic yoga poses to get you into the appropriate flow of fitness energy.

These four basic yoga poses have been specifically selected for brand new initiates. However, they can also serve as refreshers for those who are already active yoga practitioners. Keep an open mind about these poses. Some who are new to Hatha Yoga have expressed their misgivings, saying that they are embarrassed about assuming certain postures that are based on those that are seen in both inanimate and inanimate objects.

But remember that the goal of yoga is not to turn you into the object from which a certain pose has been based on and developed. We are totally one with you on that. After all, no one in his or her right mind would want to turn into a tree or mountain, when one can more fully enjoy life as a human being.

That being said, keep in mind that when you are asked to assume a specific Hatha Yoga pose, it is the attributes or essence of the posture that is being sought to be developed within you.

It may feel awkward at first, but don’t worry. That’s the purpose of the more than 70 videos that clearly show you how to go about executing or practicing each of the basic yoga poses presented in this article, along with other, more fitness-targeted postures.

Four Basic Yoga Poses:

Basic Yoga Pose #1 – Mountain Pose

The Mountain Pose, also know as the Triangle Pose, is a gentle basic and much liked pose that is useful for introducing your body to stretching and to breathing rhythmically. Think of a mountain as being sturdy and solid, not suddenly collapsing even when buffeted by strong winds or roaring flash floods. Imagine yourself as a mountain rising up and reaching for the glorious sky.

Basic Yoga Pose #2 – Tree Pose

This is awesome for acquiring a sense of balance. Have you noticed how the clumsiness of some can diminish their sense of worth because of intolerance and name-calling? The tree pose can help you develop physical stability, such that the sense of control generated also stabilizes your mental processes, and sense of self. Great for developing fitness on three levels: mental, physical, and spiritual.

Basic Yoga Pose #3 – Foot-to-Hand Pose

The foot-to-hand pose, also known as Standing Forward Bend, is meant to integrate suppleness in your body. All the cramped muscles, tendons, and nerves are given a new bracing energy boost as they are gradually released from the confines of your accumulated tension and stress. Great for internal cleansing as toxins in the bunched-up muscles of your body are loosened and it becomes easier for your circulatory system to dump them later.

Basic Yoga Pose #4 – Warrior Pose

Does this sound more like what you were expecting, or does the sound of this basic Hatha Yoga pose raise your hackles? Whatever your initial reaction may be, you will find out once you practice this pose that there is nothing even remotely threatening about it. As far as basic yoga poses go, the Warrior pose is meant for making your arms, shoulders, thighs, muscles of the back, as well as your ankles, stronger, thereby putting you in the right groove for further fitness development.

How do you feel after trying out the four basic Hatha Yoga poses described in this chapter?

There’s more to come in succeeding sections of this guide, along with demonstration video for all of these poses and many more when you subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter. Next we’ll get into “Doing Yoga for Men” and talk a bit about the benefits of yoga for men, so keep on reading!

Important Hatha Yoga Benefits

Hatha Yoga benefits your life in many ways.

Hatha Yoga as a means of achieving fitness is very special because as explained in the introduction section, Hatha Yoga benefits do not just concentrate on one aspect of your being. It has a threefold approach to nurturing and protecting your whole being, encompassing the physical, mental, and spiritual; providing both preventive and therapeutic benefits.

How Hatha Yoga Benefits Impulse Control

Addiction to smoking and drinking are hard to get rid of, the same with over-eating or over-sleeping. But just by simply practicing Hatha Yoga you can see for yourself how your body will effectively eliminate cravings and flush out the toxins from your body.

Other Hatha Yoga benefits include its ability to relieve some painful symptoms that occur in illnesses and diseases such as: arthritis, chronic fatigue, diabetes, asthma, obesity, and even AIDS. Hatha Yoga has also been proven to counter or slow down the effects of body ravaging as people grow older.

How Hatha Yoga Benefits Cleansing and Purification

Hatha Yoga postures and breathing methods purify your physical body to the extent that you become stronger, more flexible, and more toned. At the same time, you become more focused, giving your mind the serenity it is entitled to have.

Hatha Yoga also helps to relax your muscles, freeing your mind from distracting pain and sharpening your concentration.

No Age Barriers to Enjoy Hatha Yoga Benefits

Hatha Yoga can work for various ages. It has no age limitations, and is great for both the young and those who are more mature. With its near-perfect fitness routines, it keeps you in shape, invigorates your body, perfects your coordination, and makes you one with yourself; a concept and reality that will become clearer as we progress in our study of Hatha Yoga.

All of these make it distinctly different from all other forms of exercise. For one thing, the motion generated by Hatha Yoga causes no strain and imbalances in your body. Although it is not entirely aerobic, it can involve all parts of the muscles in your body, challenging your body by way of making your limbs function as free weights.

Weight resistance comes from the center of your body’s gravity, strengthening you and making you more capable of continuing more poses that can be held for long periods of time.

How Hatha Yoga Benefits – It’s Quality Over Quantity

Unlike most work out regimes, Hatha Yoga focuses more on quality over quantity. Learning and developing self-discipline is a major part of Hatha Yoga as is developing coordination and helping improve both concentration and memory.

More regular practice improves flexibility as years go by.

The discipline that’s integral to yoga helps practicing teenagers to have inner strength to say “no” to negative influences. On the other hand, older people can retain mobility and will be able to cope better with conditions such as arthritis and poor blood circulation.

For pregnant women, not all Hatha Yoga poses are recommended. However, those poses that are can promote good health for both the mother and her unborn child. In addition, pregnancy is a very good time for meditation.

Overall, Hatha Yoga benefits everyone who makes it their regular exercise routine without their active lifestyle being affected or degraded in any way. Now you can get the full set of Hatha Yoga poses when you subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter. In the next article we’ll take a closer look at “Doing Basic Hatha Yoga Poses” for some yoga postures to get you started.

Guide to Hatha Yoga Poses

Your all inclusive guide to Hatha Yoga poses.

Congratulations for deciding to read this guide on Hatha Yoga for Beginners! You’ve made the right choice to let strength surge within you, and make positive changes in your life.

What is this strength that we are talking about?

It’s the kind of strength that’s gradually built up without undue pressure. Its foundations are found in relaxation – in a calming and gentle process and effect.

If you think that surging strength and gentle relaxation are at odds with each other, we’ll show proof how that isn’t the case, at least not as far as Hatha Yoga poses are concerned.

The strength promoted through Hatha Yoga for beginners is one that is based on the release of energy that encourages your holistic development. Through the regular performance of Hatha Yoga poses, you will be able to:

  • Accomplish the union of your mind and body, such that they don’t function as separate parts of your being, but as fully united components working for your best welfare.
  • Acquire a working balance between mind and body, together with your spirit, so that the quality of your life will improve in a holistic manner.
  • Achieve greater suppleness, enabling you to move with more control and poise, avoiding clumsy movements that can cause injuries.
  • Attain not only a youthful and optimistic outlook, but actually feel young and energetic, with greater capacity to achieve tasks and fulfill your dreams and passions.

That is exactly why we have prepared this guide on Hatha Yoga for beginners for you, along with the simplified Hatha Yoga poses that are clearly depicted in the more than 70 videos that are an integral part of this whole package.

Whether your interest in Hatha Yoga comes from plain curiosity, or an intense desire to take charge of your life, you are heading down the right path. As you start to learn these yoga poses, you’ll start to bring a rejuvenated, positive viewpoint into your existence. You’ll begin recharging your flagging energy and weary self through the simple lessons and explanations provided.

Along with the videos, you’ll be able to appreciate the powerful freedom that Hatha Yoga practice can bring to your mind, body, and spirit; once they start working as one for your ultimate good.

A Brief Background on Hatha Yoga

Health and wellness are very subjective. How they are defined is based on personal ideas about being fit and how to become so. For some people, what their thoughts conjure up are images of various kinds of food, both the forbidden and the allowed (dietary restrictions). Some also think of strenuous activities, ranging from spot toning to overall workouts (physical exercises), while others focus on drugs, medicines, or organic compounds (prescriptions, vitamins, supplements, steroids).

Not everyone is able to easily reconcile themselves with such thoughts. They think that being healthy and well is too much of an imposition, that it requires too much effort, sacrifice and stringent discipline. In other words, for some people the road to being healthy in mind and body is no fun at all.

Hatha Yoga Poses are Here to Change that Perspective

Hatha is a Sanskrit or ancient Indian word. Ha is the sun. Tha is the moon. Yoga, on the other hand, is also a Sanskrit word that literally means “unite” or “yoke” (together). When you mention Hatha Yoga, you are in effect saying “the union of opposites.”

Three Key Elements of Hatha Yoga Poses

Meditation, posture or poses and breathing are the three key elements of Hatha Yoga. They are the basis on which the Hatha Yoga poses have been created.

If you are new to meditation, you are in good hands. This guide will guide you on why meditation is ideal for you, to quiet your mind, free it from clutter, and enable you to harness the power of concentration or focused thinking.

The same applies to breathing. Of course, breathing comes naturally to all living creations. However, there are numerous breathing styles. Some of these are harmful, while some are beneficial. This guide will help you understand the differences and show you techniques to master your breathing.

As for the postures or poses, they are central to learning. You will be presented with explanations about each pose, as well as what they can do for you.

Remember though, that while this guide contains information that is sufficient as an initial step towards getting fit, you will best be able to enjoy a fuller more comprehensive engagement with your mind, body, and spirit by watching the more than 70 Hatha Yoga videos you get by subscribing to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter. Next, we’ll delve deeper into some “How Hatha Yoga Benefits Your Whole Being”. The key to understanding and living life the Hatha Yoga way is just a couple clicks away.

Guide to Hatha Yoga

Here you have the beginners guide to Hatha Yoga.

Do you know that Hatha Yoga; a non-invasive, gentle, and complete approach to achieving health and wellness, could very well be the answer to your recurrent aches and pains?

Are you aware that Hatha Yoga will improve your physical well being, and will also help you attain a more relaxed yet more productive state of mind? Not only that, it also gives you the kind of internal peace that is much sought after in this modern world that is filled with all kinds of stress coming from different sources.

Hatha Yoga – When Fitness is Your Goal

When Fitness is your goal, it’s not just your physical body that you should pay attention to! Your mind and your spirit are just as important as your body!

Neglecting to take care of one aspect properly can, and will likely lead to problems that pile up one after the other! Problems that may seem overwhelming… problems that may drag you down and take away your passion to live!

Are you overweight? Easily fatigued? Do you have recurring headaches and back pains? Do you have digestive problems?

What about the state of your mind? Can you make logical choices and decisions with ease? Or is your mind so full of clutter, worries, and thoughts spilling out incoherently because of the pressures you experience in your daily life?

The Beginners Guide to Understanding Hatha Yoga

This Beginners Guide to Hatha Yoga and its accompanying 70 videos on numerous Hatha Yoga poses (much, much more than what are mentioned in the guide!) will show you the way to address your concerns about your body, your mind and thought processes and the condition of your spirit or inner self!

Both the guide and videos are presented in a friendly, instructional and motivational manner to ensure that each step of your learning process will not only be enjoyable, but highly doable as well!

In this guide you’ll be given a short background on each of the Hatha Yoga poses and the benefits that you, as a yogi, will receive once you start doing the poses as recommended. Safety tips and cautions are also included, but to help you remember to make sure that your well-being is protected on all fronts, you’ll want to have your doctors approval first.

Meanwhile, all of the videos have been produced with your practical and comfortable compliance in mind!

Through clear verbal and visual demonstrations, you will be able to eventually master Hatha Yoga to the point that you will be able to show to all your friends and loved ones how this discipline was hugely instrumental in your rebirth—a new, healthier, smarter, and more even dis-positioned version of yourself.

If you are not satisfied with the way that your life is going now, don’t despair! It may simply be a case of your physical, mental, and spiritual rhythms not being properly aligned with one another.

Hatha Yoga’s holistic approach to promoting health and well-being is the ideal answer to such a situation, which is something that is commonly experienced by many people today.

Ask around. Talk to your friends. The people you work with. Relatives that you haven’t been with for a long time. Ask even those who are on your social media networks. Ask them what they are most concerned about regarding their health, and chances are, the answers that you will receive will mostly be about physical issues.

Hatha Yoga – It’s More than Mere Physical Fitness

That’s sad, because the physical body is not an independent part of existence. All three – mind, body, and spirit – must be healthy, must be in good shape, and must be protected from harm in order for you to be totally fit. And again, this is something you will achieve through Hatha Yoga.

So, don’t wait any longer!

Get started using the Beginners Guide to Hatha Yoga PLUS the 70 easy to follow demonstration and motivational videos that you will want to watch, learn from, follow and review on your way to becoming a well-trained Hatha Yoga practitioner.

Learn Hatha Yoga in the comfort of your own home at your most convenient time! This is a great chance to find out how meditation, proper breathing, and the yoga poses can all work together for your absolute fitness.

Live Life as You Were Meant to Live it with Hatha Yoga!

Gain solid health benefits from easy-to-perform exercises that won’t put undue or competitive pressure on your body.

Experience the wonderful difference of having clarity of mind when you need to make important or life-changing decisions.

Live as you were meant to live; enjoying life, effectively managing stress, no longer being subjected to debilitating insomnia and also being highly capable of avoiding fatigue and burn out.

Take the opportunity to improve your life in ways you never thought possible! Let strength surge within you by following the “Guide to Hatha Yoga Poses” and subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter to get the full set of accompanying Hatha Yoga pose demonstration videos. Let strength surge within you and begin to feel the great and positive changes in your life.

Get Rid of Cellulite

To get rid of cellulite you need to get rid of fat.

This is a very interesting topic. Can yoga get rid of cellulite? Some people say that yoga works wonders and others say that other than slight health benefits, they saw no visible reduction in their cellulite.

So Who’s Right About Getting Rid of Cellulite?

This is another one of those questions where both parties are right.

What? Both parties? Really?

Yes. Before we examine why, first you need to understand what cellulite is.

Let’s look at what Wikipedia says about what it is:

Cellulite (also known as adiposis edematosa, dermopanniculosis deformans, status protrusus cutis, gynoid lipodystrophy, and orange peel syndrome) is the herniation of subcutaneous fat within fibrous connective tissue that manifests topographically as skin dimpling and nodularity, often on the pelvic region (specifically the buttocks), lower limbs, and abdomen. Cellulite occurs in most postpubescent females and rarely in males.

In simple terms, cellulite is fat. That’s it. Fat. F-A-T.

Most women are shocked when they hear that cellulite is nothing more than stores of fat. They often exclaim that it can’t be fat because it looks so clumpy, lumpy or dimpled. Normal fat is just smooth and rounded.

That’s wrong thinking.

The reason that cellulite appears the way it does is because of the connective tissues beneath the skin of a woman. In a woman, the connective tissues from the muscles to the skin are perpendicular. This creates pockets or spaces for fat to be stored.

Men do not have this problem because their connective tissues are connected in a cross hatched manner. Men have it good in this department.

To worsen the situation, women have thinner skin so any subcutaneous fat becomes much more visible when it pushes up against the skin. As a woman ages, her skin gets thinner and less supple.

That’s a double whammy because now the cellulite becomes much more visible. This is why older women complain of cellulite more.

Get Rid of Cellulite by Getting Rid of Fat

The only way to reduce the appearance of cellulite is to reduce the fat stores in the body, be on a healthy diet and take care of your skin by consuming collagen supplements and applying moisturizing lotions to your skin.

Women see cellulite on their thighs and butt because the skin there is thinner. Different women may see cellulite in different places. It all depends on how thin the skin is on the body. Regardless of location, the principle is the same.

When you lose the fat, you’ll lose the cellulite.

So is Yoga Effective to Get Rid of Cellulite?

If your body fat percentage is not too high, yoga may help you burn more calories and you may lose some body fat. When this happens, your fat stores drop and the cellulite may be less visible or not even exist at all.

If you are overweight or obese, it may take you a long, long time to burn off all the excess fat with yoga because yoga is not a high impact exercise. In this case, it may not be very effective in the short run but over a period of time, yoga can get you there. So, depending on the person, the answer is a yes for everyone even though it may take much more time for some.

I’d highly recommend that yoga just be one component in a varied training regimen. You want to hard cardio workouts that will get your heart pumping and your body in fat burning mode. You want resistance training especially for your lower body. Squats, lunges, dead-lifts, scissor kicks, etc. will tone the muscles in your legs and butt. You will also accelerate fat burning in these areas.

That is how you lose cellulite. Yoga is a means to an end and not an end in itself without a considerable amount of time invested.

 

Yoga Poses for Beginners

Yoga poses for beginners to do first.

The most important advice for beginners upfront when doing yoga poses is to practice yoga safely. Like any form of exercise if you push yourself too much and overdo things you can get yourself into trouble, but with yoga you can stretch and pull muscles that you didn’t even know you had.

Tips on Yoga Poses for Beginners

Be sure to take your time and learn the yoga poses accurately from a knowledgeable person or video training that can demonstrate the proper form to you. Yoga videos with verbal instructions and follow along demonstrations can work well by helping you to learn the many yoga poses at your own pace.

In other words don’t try to figure yoga out on your own without some good solid instructions.

If you’ve been leading a sedentary lifestyle you need to work into doing yoga poses gradually. A goal many yoga beginners start off with is to do just 15 minutes (less if you are severely out of shape) each day and gradually increase your time as you feel your poses getting easier to do.

Getting Good at Doing Yoga Poses

Trust that you will get better and better at yoga with a little bit of practice and consistency. Be very careful not to push too hard and injure yourself while working your way up slowly from around 15 minutes a day to around 30 minutes a day.

It’s a good idea to wear something comfortable and use an exercise mat, or at least a nice cushy blanket on the floor. Other than that, all you need is some good instructions to follow along with as you learn the various poses.

One of the great things about yoga is that it can fit into your life no matter what shape you are in starting out. You’ll want to be sure to pay close attention to your form and be sure to take time to learn how to do basic postures correctly.

We’ll show you how to do this with a follow along yoga video in a moment.

Yoga Poses can Help Back Pain

Some people will start practicing yoga to help with their back pain and some doctors even recommend it. There are lots of yoga postures that can help eliminate back, hip, shoulder and neck pain. A few common yoga postures that can help out your back area are the forward bend, pelvic tilt and the side angle poses.

Yoga Poses to Help Get Pregnant?

People who are more familiar with yoga will tell you that there are many health benefits associated with its practice. There are even yoga postures that women use for infertility or just to help along the process of getting pregnant for the impatient couple.

Women have reported great results using relaxation yoga poses after sex to help get them pregnant. So yes, yoga poses can help you get pregnant and have a healthy and happy baby.

Yoga Poses Used to Relax You

Taking up yoga can teach you how to De-stress yourself and let your body relax. You’ll learn poses that help you relax all of your body’s muscles and relax your mind at the same exact time. Take your time learning your yoga poses the right way in the beginning so that you’ll forever receive the most value from every yoga pose you do from here on out.

What are the Best Yoga Poses for Beginners?

As a beginner in yoga you run the risk of becoming overwhelmed when first starting out. It seems like there is much to learn when just starting out but a good yoga instructor will tell you that you don’t need to learn it all to start getting results. Take it one step at a time and learn a little something new with each one of your yoga practice sessions.

The best thing that you can do is to learn a few yoga poses first and add more time and new ones as you grow and develop.

Below you’ll find various categories of poses along with a short description on the benefits of each type of pose. From there we’ll finish up by showing you a couple of examples of yoga poses and provide you with some help on putting it all together.

The many benefits that yoga provides are well within your reach so let’s cover what some of common yoga pose categories are and what they’re good for.

What are Standing Yoga Poses?

Standing yoga poses are done in the upright position and help you relieve tension and aches and pains in your body. They are also great for kidney function, circulation and breathing. With consistent practice standing poses can help improve the strength of your neck, shoulder, hips and knees.

What are Seated Yoga Poses?

Seated yoga poses are, as the name implies, done while in a seated position. These are the calming poses that people use to help relieve their stress. These seated poses can help you feel soothed, relaxed and revived. Even though they help you feel less tired many people find that they sleep much better after doing seated yoga poses.

What are Inverted and Balancing Yoga Poses?

The inverted poses are basically “legs up and head down” where this reverse in gravity brings a supply of fresh oxygen rich blood to your heart muscle and head. This pose is beneficial for improving circulation and refreshing tired, achy or swollen legs after a long day of being on your feet.

The balancing yoga poses are very beneficial in developing core muscle strength and greatly improves muscle control, coordination, flexibility and agility. In other words, these are some good poses to work into your sessions as soon as you can.

What are Yoga Side Bend and Twist Poses?

The side bends yoga poses are just that – side bends. These are especially useful for stimulating some of your organs like the kidneys, liver and stomach.

The twist pose is a pose that you can do in a sitting or standing position. Twists are great for strengthening and helping with stiff necks, achy backs, shoulders and even great to help relieve headaches. These can be a bit intense for some people but when done the right way can increase the overall flexibility of your spine.

What are Reclining Yoga Poses?

Reclining yoga poses that are in this group fall primarily into two categories namely, the prone pose and the supine pose.

1.) Prone is done lying on your stomach on the floor facing down, doing poses where you mostly hold yourself on your knees and hands.

2.) The supine poses are just the opposite where you are lying on your back in more relaxed positions. These poses are restful poses that are great to do toward the end your yoga workout session.

What are Forward and Backward Bend Poses?

Forward bend poses uses movements that can help you to strengthen your lower back and your hamstrings and are good for helping you improve digestion and circulation.

Backward bend yoga poses use movements that help improve deeper breathing and have been know to help people with depression. Because of the deeper breathing accomplished in these poses your body and mind will feel more energized and revitalized at the end of the session.

Learn to Breathe Right and Relax Yourself

Learning to breathe correctly needs to be your top priority if it’s not already. So, get a grip on to the fact that besides feeling a little overwhelmed at the many types of yoga poses there are to learn, you’re now being told that you need to occupy your time learning proper breathing techniques.

Learning to breathe right takes some time but only at first and in a short period of time of focusing on your breathing, you’ll be automatically breathing right without even thinking about it. Breathing correctly is so important so do not ignore learning it.

Doing Your First Yoga Pose

Be graceful in your movements and promote flow while doing your yoga poses. The easiest way to say this is to not move from pose to pose but to “flow” from pose to pose in graceful movements such as a dancer or ice skater might do.

There’s no need to follow along with this pose as its only purpose is to give you an idea of how a yoga pose goes. If you’re new, it’s best to use an instructor or instructional yoga video to learn from.

So for the sake of making a choice of one of many yoga poses we could do, let’s demonstrate the Cobra Upward Pose which is a great beginner’s pose because it can be done in a few simple and easily learned steps.

Firstly, lie down on mat or blanket with your forehead to the floor. With your legs stretched backwards pull them closely together. Next, put your hands flat on the floor underneath your shoulders, take a deep breath and begin raising your head pushing your neck and shoulders back while using your hands to push your body up and back until you are holding an arched pose.

Remember to breathe correctly and flow in and out of your pose as you repeat it.

You can see a visual demonstration doing the “Cobra Upward Facing Dog” in this video and even follow along if you like as you learn how to do this simple yet effective pose.

[video_youtube video_url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwzHiRxA2eg” width=”480″ height=”300″]

When looking at a pose like that it doesn’t seem so difficult, but if you are new or out of shape, do yourself a favor and only go as far as you can each time and listen closely to what your body is saying to you. Only you can be the judge of what you can or can’t do and even if you want to push yourself, don’t run the risk of injury and setting yourself backwards.

Be Smart and Yoga Poses can Take You a Long Way

The great thing about yoga is that it can be very gentle from all fitness levels as you slowly work your way into it and it can be done virtually anywhere you go. All in all, yoga is a full body workout that can stretch and tone each one of your muscle groups giving you more flexibility and mobility in your everyday life.

Take yoga seriously as it can truly benefit your body, mind and life as a whole. No matter what your physical condition is, there are likely several yoga poses for beginners that you can start doing today and see positive results in a matter of a few short weeks.

 

Benefits of Yoga for Beginners

Are you thinking about getting into doing yoga? If so, you are making a step in the right direction. There are many benefits that yoga can bring you and it is a perfect way to exercise for beginners because it can be adjusted to get more challenging as you progress and become more fit.

Yoga for the Beginner

As a beginner it is always best to take your time and learn the proper posture for the many different yoga poses available to you. You might even think about taking a “yoga for beginners” class to get personal instructions to learn the various yoga poses.

There are many qualified yoga instructors you can learn from, possibly right in your back yard, but here we are going to focus our attention on giving you a well rounded introduction and some Hatha Yoga training videos, compliments of MyFitnessNut.com that you can use to get started in your own home and at your own pace.

First, Let’s Cover Some Benefits of Yoga for Beginners

Among the many top benefits of yoga you’ll find happening is that you’ll start to become much more flexible. Not mentally flexible, physically flexible, but in time and with practice you’ll find mental flexibility occurs and a more confident point of view materialize as you discipline and develop yourself.

Simply put, yoga is good for your body and your mind.

Yoga can help you be calmer, more in control and reduce stress in your life. It can help you improve your self confidence, let you concentrate and think clearer and promote your overall well being.

Some people decide to practice yoga as a means to simplify and de-stress their busy life because it can help train you to calm your mind and find peace. Yoga can renew and invigorate your mind and body to thrive in a healthy state.

Yoga for beginners comes with a whole host of benefits.Let’s face it, in today’s hustle and bustle life that many of us lead, finding a good stress reliever is important and yoga is also about deep breathing and relaxation which even on their own promote stress relief, calmness and harmony in your body.

Best of all, yoga is an excellent fitness workout for most anyone regardless of their current physical condition, size, weight, sex or age. It is purposely designed to give all of your muscle groups a good healthy workout.

Yoga is great for beginners and people who are out of shape, overweight and maybe have a difficult time moving because most of the beginner’s poses are very gentle on your body.

In a short period of time you will find that yoga will help you gain fuller control over your joints and muscles and you’ll find that you’ll be gaining much more control over your body. Some of the areas you’ll see more flexibility in are your legs, arms, shoulders, hips, abdomen and back.

Yoga Involves Balance which Develops Core Body Strength

Yoga involves doing a lot of balancing in the poses and this develops solid core body strength without bulking huge muscle mass. Some of the yoga poses you’ll be doing will involve balancing on your arms and hands, on one leg and some have you moving slowly thus helping you develop better control and core strength.

It takes time to develop and get used to doing yoga poses but the results you get from have a toner and stronger body is well worth the effort. With regular practice your legs, stomach, back, arms, shoulders and chest will become more toned and defined.

And what do you think the outcome of that is going to be?

Other people will see you more toned and defined, healthier, happier and you’ll feel more confident and attractive to a potential mate. There’s nothing like it for a great self confidence booster too.

Yoga for Beginners Provides for Better Breathing

One important part of yoga that’s often overlooked by beginners is that yoga helps teach you how to breathe more properly than you’ve been used to in the past. Both adults and children alike can benefit from this and it is specially well-suited for people with asthma and other breathing disorders.

Learning advanced breathing techniques can help condition your lungs for increased lung capacity to deliver more life giving oxygen throughout your entire body. If needed for allergy sufferers there are advanced breathing techniques that can be used to help clear the nasal passages and free up life giving oxygen flow for your entire body.

Yoga for Beginners – What’s not to Like?

There are lots of good reasons why people would want to learn and practice yoga. Whole body fitness is probably the top of most people’s list but many people see yoga as a way to develop themselves as a better person.

Feeling stronger, more confident, flexible and resilient is just the beginning. Breathing better, increasing stamina and warding off allergies are all great side benefits but as you stick with it and progress, your mental state will begin to evolve with your newly fit body. You’ll feel calmer and more secure in your life and that benefits you and everyone around you.

How Can a Beginner Get Into Yoga?

When you’re getting into yoga for the first time, where you’ll want to start depends a lot upon you. Do you want the social aspect and support of learning in a group? Or do you feel more comfortable starting out alone in the privacy of your own home?

And then there’s always the in between, where you hire a personal one-on-one yoga instructor that will work with you on a personal and private level.

There are many choices and different levels of advancement in yoga too. You can find classes, videos and private instructors for the beginners to advance, from children to seniors, to pregnant women and even people with certain disabilities including the morbidly obese.

Our goal at MyFitnessNut.com is to get you started moving in the right direction when you’re considering yoga, or anything regarding the improvement of your health and fitness levels. To that point, we’ve prepared 70 different follow along Hatha Yoga for Beginners poses that are great for both beginners and hard core fitness nuts alike.