Yoga??

[leeannorr]

Not sure if anyone here is very familiar with yoga but I'll give it a shot. I've been working out, a combination of HIIT and strength training, since February. While I love it, I'm also very interested in becoming stronger through yoga. I took a few classes over the winter and I liked the concept of it, however there was too much stretching for me. I want to practice the poses that build strength and enable me to build up to things like handstands and variations of strength and balance poses. I really have no idea where to start. I've become much stronger through my strength training but I'm not near strong enough to just jump right into those difficult poses. I wish I had something to follow that would lead me step by step so that I could work up to that. Any ideas?

[asteroidbooty]

The best practice for yoga is yoga, truly. You can start off your routine with some easy slow stretches then build up to more difficult poses. When you are first beginning yoga, don't be afraid to modify poses and use props -- these will help you to maintain form and train yourself up to the full expression of a pose. For example, you can practice handstands against a wall first, holding at progressively longer intervals. For handstands in particular, you will want to focus on core and balance. Most yogis start with related poses and build up (headstands are great). In general there are many different styles of yoga so make sure you know your fitness goal before going into a class. If you are looking for something faster paced and more "athletic" - try classes labelled Flow, Power or Ashtanga - much more vigorous than a typical hatha yoga class or the meditative styles.

Outside of visiting a studio (expensive), i've found the best resources for daily practice to be youtube or mobile apps. Instagram is also nice for daily inspiration/motivation.
- Favorite iphone app for yoga is Yoga Studio --> http://yogastudioapp.com/. Quality video, good prebuilt routines, ability to build your own routines
- Favorite Yoga Youtubers --> Adriene (full routines) https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene, Fightmaster (full routines)https://www.youtube.com/user/lesleyfightmaster Kino (form, quick tutorials) https://www.youtube.com/user/KinoYoga

Namaste.

[aquamarine84]

yogadownload.com. They seem to be getting away from new free classes, but they still have a very wide variety of 20-minute-ish classes available to download for free and longer versions available. There's several geared to complete beginners.

[Lily273]

Sorry if this will sound too obvious, but go to you tube and type- yoga strength exercises
i have been doing and teaching yoga for over 10 years now and for what you need, though may sound counter-intuitive is actually isolated and not group practice, therefore youtube is perfect
first of all, you can go with the pace you want and focus on what you want, and , since having no other distractions, you can really tune into your body and be aware of your limits - if you listen to your body and treat it kindly, you will avoid injuries.
Some poses are rather challenging, so it is crucial you dont push yourself and be super patient with your body.
Most importantly do everything in front of the mirror, compare your posture to the instructiors posture at every step, again to avoid any injuries, then you can decide what poses to focus on and for how long.
I used to live in an ashram at Himalayan mountains, doing yoga 24/7 and we wouldhold postures as long as half an hour... this seems absurd now with our busy lifes, but my advice is - better to hold few good postures for longer and BREATHE slowly, gently, and smoothly into this by being patient with your body and taking it slowly. this is the way to built strength
Postures dont really mattter than much to be honest, i know a lot of people find some poses to be "cool looking" but trust me you can get really really strong by holding something like downdog, simple as that.
You said you dont want to do stretching that much, not sure i understand this, i mean you cant do yoga without stretching, its the only way, you stretch to release the tensions and go deeper, from muscle building point of view this can be seen as counter productive as the bodybuilding is about contraction whereas yoga is about expansion and release, but your body needs this , its natural to contract and release, so that next time you can contract even deeper

[MonteCristo1]

Shiva Rea's yoga dvds are amazing, if you don't like the class atmosphere (I personally perfer to do yoga on my own, as it is a very personal experience for me). I'd recommend starting with Yoga Shakti. It is flow yoga, so there is less time spent static in a pose, but as Lily pointed out, yoga does involve becoming open, so some stretching is going to be involved.

[Artemis00]

Sorry if this will sound too obvious, but go to you tube and type- yoga strength exercises
i have been doing and teaching yoga for over 10 years now and for what you need, though may sound counter-intuitive is actually isolated and not group practice, therefore youtube is perfect
first of all, you can go with the pace you want and focus on what you want, and , since having no other distractions, you can really tune into your body and be aware of your limits - if you listen to your body and treat it kindly, you will avoid injuries.

Agree 100% with this^^^


I started to play around with some of the yoga poses after I accidentally found out I could do a Peacock Pose / Mayurasana / Elbow Lever. To build up my capability with that pose, I approached it like I do lifting...sets/reps. Usually my first 3 sets will have more reps with with short hold times (5-15 seconds)...so I can get more comfortable with getting into the position. My last 2 sets will typically be single reps where I will try to hold for as long as I can. This method has worked really well for me and has helped me get a few more yoga poses under my belt (crow, crane, side crow, perched pigeon). The thing I love about these poses are that there is always a method of progression. Like with the peacock pose...once you master that with your body parallel to the ground, you can start working on lifting your legs or working on a one arm version.

No reason why you need to take a yoga classes to be able to learn these poses...just need to find good videos online with a progression method that works for you. Just understand, what helps one person progress with these poses, doesn't necessarily mean it is going to work for you. Also search calisthenics online. Many yoga poses are used as well with body weight calisthenics workouts, they are just called something different (elbow lever versus peacock pose).

Here are some good links to get you started...

Al Kavadlo...well known in the calisthenics community. He also has a lot of articles and videos that walk you thru the progression to be able to do these moves.
http://www.alkavadlo.com/

Grace Menendez...she likes to merge calisthenic work with yoga (I get a lot of great ideas from her).
https://www.********.com/dieselgrace?fref=nf

Kino...what she can do with Yoga is incredible. I wish I had her flexibility.
https://www.youtube.com/user/KinoYoga

[cdhussey]

You could also look into hand balancing or other acrobatic type activities. Though there will still be a level of flexibility required, the focus will be on the strength and balance, etc.

[arhantayoga]

yoga good for health.

[Stacy36]

I practice Yoga once a week, It calm me down. I love it.

[tanksoldier]

I wish I had something to follow that would lead me step by step so that I could work up to that. Any ideas?

Look for Bikrim also called "hot" yoga.

26 poses that are the same every session, so you can see your progress.

Instructor led so you can be sure you're performing them correctly and safely.

For me yoga works all 3 parts of my being: mind, body, spirit. I'm a warrior by trade and inclination. I need the balance of calm and reflection for a few hours per week.

Different people will tell you they benefit in different ways, but for me learning serenity under stress is the most beneficial part of my practice.

Physically it's probably the hardest thing I've ever done.

Mentally, the rest of the world ceases to exist for the 90 minutes of the class.

Spiritually, it teaches serenity and internal focus.

[Shaktisida]

I'm just reviewing the possibility of adding yoga to my workouts. It's been clear to me that I need something for mental health.
In the evenings I practice meditation to relax after a pile of written essays and other papers. It helps me a lot and I’d like to add something like this in the morning