The Simplicity In Yoga : Top 10 Simple Yoga Poses For Beginners

For a beginner who wants to start doing yoga, it can get a little confusing and chaotic in the first go. There are too many poses, structures, styles and ideas that come with the practice of Yoga. And with everyone other person becoming a Yoga guru, it is hard to understand whose advice one should follow and whose should be disregarded. While Yoga might seem challenging at first, but there is no better way to actually do it than take the first step- which is simple to make up your mind and read a little on what Yoga is.

Yoga is one of the most spiritual and cleansing activity that you can take part in. You don’t have to dive head on into the complicated poses to practice and live Yoga. There are some simple poses, which too can liberate the mind and bring a sense of calmness and peace in your life. These poses though relatively simple, can inculcate a lot in a human body. It rejuvenates the soul and frees the mind of it’s tensions.

Top 10 Simple And Most Important Yoga Poses for beginners :

1. Mindful breath

2. Gentle flow

3. Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

4. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

5. Standing Balance Poses

6. Side Plank (Vasisthasana)

7. Prone backbends

8. Supine twist

9. Inversions

10. Meditation

Just try out these simple Yoga Poses, if you are hesitant about where to start, or if you have a time crunch:

Mindful breath

There is a Sanskrit proverb: “For breath is life; if you breathe well, you will live long on earth.” Western wisdom agrees. While many people claim that treating must be done from the abdomen, yet this is nothing more that a myth.

It doesn’t really matter much whether we breathe from the diaphragm (also called abdominal or belly breathing), or the deep ribcage or use a specific pranayama technique — research states that slow and deep breathing can trigger the “relaxation response,” which helping in slowing down respiration and heart rate and in turn reduces blood pressure, soothes digestion, improves energy, and reduces stress and perceived pain.

The best part is that this tool is available to everyone despite of injury, age, range of motion, or physical strength.

Gentle flow

Circling wrists and ankles, flexing and pointing the toes, windshield wiping the knees, Cat/cow — these gentle movements don’t look elegant or even classy, but they can help connect us to the rhythm of the breath and the proprioceptive sensations of the body; gently stimulate blood and lymphatic flow; and warm and mobilise our joints. Flowing like water can also help dissolve muscular and mental tension, moving us away from rigidity and stagnation.

Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

Even the most dedicated yogis only practice for a couple of hours a day, which means that what we do off the mat (i.e. our posture) has much more impact on our health than what we do on it. Our posture influences our breathing, digestion, and mood; over the long term, it can even create asymmetric strain on our joints, leading to premature wear and tear.

Every time we find our roots in mountain pose, we are encouraged to notice, and correct, our postural habits. This helps us to build new posture habits that we can carry off the mat and into our daily lives.

Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Downward facing dog is a hatha yoga staple for good reason. The pose creates harmony between the upper and lower body, opening the chest while lengthening the backs of the legs. It balances the inward focus of a forward bend with the upper body strength of an arm balance and the energy boost of an inversion. And, like most of my favorite yoga postures, it is easily modified to suit each student’s needs.

Standing Balance Poses

Though some yogis are born with deep backbends or open hips, we are all able to improve our balance. Challenging our stability in Tree Pose (Vrksasana)Eagle Pose (Garudasana) or Crescent Lunge boosts body awareness and mental focus while teaching us how to use our core muscles functionally to coordinate the upper and lower body. Because we practice one side of the body at a time, we also get the chance to notice small discrepancies between the left and right sides before they become big ones.

Balance work also fosters a feeling of resilience — mentally and emotionally as well as physically — and boosts stability as we age.

Side Plank (Vasisthasana)

Standing balance poses help us maintain strength and stability in the lower body;Side Plank helps us achieve the same in the upper body. This is a key benefit for women, because we tend to lose upper body strength as we age. Whether we use the regular version of the pose or a modification, Side Plank activates the rotator cuff (the small muscles that correctly position the head of the upper arm bone in the shoulder socket), tones the often neglected muscles of the side waist and outer hip, and forces us to recruit core, chest, back, and leg muscles to retain our balance.

Prone backbends

Over time, many of us tend to slouch, letting the head and shoulders fall forward and the upper back round. This habit shuts us down, limiting breath capacity and organ function, depressing our energy, and creating uneven wear and tear on the joints of the neck, back, and shoulders. Simple belly-down backbends like Cobra (Bhujangasana) and Locust (Salabhasana) counter this pattern by strengthening the muscles of the posterior shoulder, spine, buttocks, and legs. As we open up our posture, we open up energetically, too.

Inversions

Like shaking up a snow globe, inversions change our relationship to gravity, shifting blood and lymphatic fluid from the legs and hips toward the heart and head. It also takes the weight off our feet, ankles and knees, giving hard-working joints some welcome rest. Legs up the wall pose (Viparita Karani) is my favorite inversion because it also helps to relieve neck and back tension. There is an element of surrender that, for many of us, is missing in our frantic lives.

Supine twist

A gentle twist is the yoga equivalent of hitting the reset button on our postural habits, releasing patterns of myofascial tension around the torso, and encouraging the intervertebral discs between the bones of the spine to plump up by imbibing fluid from surrounding tissues. Twists can also stimulate circulation to our abdominal organs, which is beneficial to our digestion, and thereby our vitality.

Meditation

Regular meditation, regardless of its style or duration, has been shown to boost immunity, focus, and creativity, while reducing anxiety, stress, and perceived pain. No matter what yoga postures we can or can’t do, these powerful and lasting benefits are available to anyone who can find a comfortable seat to pause, reflect, and observe without judgment for just a few minutes a day.

Read More : yoga related myth’s that are well explained here.

Read More : Find Yoga Poses Which One Is Best For You

Originally published at Sporcial.