What Do You Need To Practice Yoga?

1.You only need a space where you can stretch out flat. It could be a room(with sufficient airing), or outdoors(preferably the early morning hours when there is hardly any disturbance). Plenty of fresh air is mandatory.

2. You will need to cover the area with a blanket, rug, large towel, mat or anything you can imagine of. Nowadays you find good Yoga mattresses in the sports outlets, these are superior to the earlier mentioned as these are slip free- i.e. they stay firm on the ground and do not move/slip while doing some particular asanas like the ‘Sooryanamaskar asan’.

3. You will also need a watch or a clock to read the seconds. This is necessary only for the beginners. After some time you will notice you’ve stopped looking at the watch and have a mental clock working for you.

4. You need to dress up in a very comfortable clothing, which provides for free movement of all body parts and allows you to stretch as well. Shorts, slacks, leotards, gym clothing should be fine. Anything that is tight fitting should be removed. Shoes, belts, glasses, wristwatch etc. too should be removed.

Who Is A Yogi And Who Can Practice Yoga?

Who Is A Yogi?
A Yogi is a person who practices Yoga. The Yogi considers ‘Old Age’ as we know it, to be un-natural!

Who Can Practice Yoga?
Anyone can start practicing Yoga. Neither age nor the physical condition is a barrier to practicing Yoga. In fact the more out of condition or stiff or weak you are the more it becomes necessary for you to start practicing Yoga.

There is a common belief that children should not practice Yoga. This is not true. Actually they can perform better as they are more flexible and can easily and perfectly attain the postures. Some concentrating postures may not be very easy for children as their minds are still development stage. Children love to move their bodies in the positions of Yoga postures and if they are encouraged to start early, they will be forever thankful to you for doing so. Once they establish the patterns of Yoga they would never want to give up. Actually it would come naturally to them. Remember, Yoga does not excite, on the contrary it calms- thus benefiting children who are nervous in nature.

There are people who shy away from doing Yoga due to many reasons. Some people haven’t done any kind of work out all their lives and are so stiff they do not want to be embarrassed. Another category of people are those who think they are too overweight to even think of Yoga. It does not really matter how far you get, all that matters is whether you are doing it. Each physical organism is as individual as its owner and the conditions of no two bodies are the same. You are in competition with no one while practicing Yoga. Only remember the physical and mostly the psychological benefits you will reap after practicing Yoga. So it really doesn’t matter how well you are able to perform in the beginning slowly but surely, you shall realize after a while) you will receive in full benefit according to your particular structure. And how much you weigh has nothing to do with your performance of the Yoga techniques. Of course there are some asanas which may not be for the over weights, but that problem too can be overcome after some time. There are many overweight people who are more flexible than many of their counterparts who have near perfect weights! So overweight people too needn’t feel embarrassed about themselves, especially regarding their flexibility.

Pic - Link