There is nothing as convenient and easy as doing yoga at home. Be it several of our lame and lazy excuses, of not wanting to go out, of not finding enough time to exercise or having busy schedules; all can be easily overcome by doing yoga at home. This is among the best form of exercise to keep our physical and mental health stable and steady. Further, one requires exercise and healthy habits to live happily and healthily, and this guide is on how to do yoga at home can be extremely beneficial for people like us to maintain proper and strong health. You will not need any prior expenditures and equipments for this; all you need is a determined mind and body to get this done. Here is how to start yoga at home.
Tips and Tricks for Yoga at Home – A Beginner Guide:
Yoga can be performed easily at home when you take care of certain aspects. While yoga is better as a group activity, many people find it difficult to attend external classes because of many constraints. However, this should not stop them from doing yoga at home. While the centers are equipped with all the essentials needed to create a perfect atmosphere, you can set up your yoga center at home, by following these simple points which describes the best way to practice yoga at home:
1. Commit to yourself:
The biggest challenge in doing and starting yoga at home is lack of motivation. When you are working out in a group, the group energy helps you stay motivated. When you are working out at your home alone, you tend to get demotivated, distracted making you not follow the practices sincerely. To overcome this challenge, you should commit to yourself on doing yoga at home regularly and follow a routine.
2. Choose a comfortable place:
Once you have set your goals, it is time to achieve them. Your first task is to create a serene environment. If you think can I do yoga at home, well, yoga can not be done somewhere where there is a lot of noise or pressure on your mind. There are many ways to ensure the tranquillity of your environment. You can use herbs like sage to cleanse the room’s aura. You can put on soothing soft music or even use aroma oils!
3. Arrange all the required equipment:
I want to start yoga at home, but I do not have anything to do! This is a common issue from us. Your next task is to get hold of the paraphernalia. The only paraphernalia that yoga requires, however, is a yoga mat. Yoga mats are easily available in most grocery stores and are thus not difficult to acquire. Once you have got yourself a yoga mat, unfold it and place it on the floor of your tranquil setting.
[See More: Tips For Yoga At Home]
4. Schedule your time:
How to do yoga at home regularly? Dedicate an hour or half to yoga each day. Make sure that you remain undisturbed during this period of time. Keep your cell phones, laptops, etc. all switched off and away from you. This will help you not get distracted. Make sure that your door is manned by someone else so that an intrusion in the form of a doorbell might not occur. Regular practice is very important, and doing it at a pre-scheduled time will help you achieve it easily. How to practice yoga at home? For best results, you should practice yoga every single day. However, if due to some reasons you are unable to do that you must try to practice at least 5 or 6 times each week. The best way to do this is to assign a particular time to it, like in the morning before breakfast or in the evening or at night.
5. Wear comfortable clothes:
How to do yoga exercises at home comfortably? It is advisable to wear comfortable clothes in yoga. This will ensure that the sweat is properly absorbed and you do not face any discomfort in performing the various asanas, which include bending in different angles. Wearing too tight clothes can prove to be a bad idea as it may hamper proper movement and also cause injury.
6. Lay down smart goals:
Maintain a journal. Write your goals, your routine, and all your other yoga experiences in a journal. This will help you keep track of your progress. Also, writing down your goals always makes achieving them easier. Besides, this will help you stay motivated at all times.
7. Practice yoga on an empty stomach:
Practising yoga on an empty stomach will ensure that you can perform the asanas easily. Besides when you do yoga at home on an empty stomach, the body is guided to efficiently harness the energy from the reserves stored in the form of body fat and muscles, and thereby you burn those extra calories more efficiently.
[See More: Yoga Asanas And Benefits]
8. Begin with basics:
Start with an easy routine and let your body get used to the stretching and exercises. Then gradually increase the grade of your routine. Introduce more difficult asanas and practice for long hours. While this may sound impossible now, once you get hooked to yoga, you will find yourself wanting to lengthen the hours of your practice!
9. Never forget doing warm-up:
Here are the first steps to do yoga at home. If you are following a routine from a yoga teaching video or CD, you need not do anything additional. If however, you have formed your own routine, you might want to start with a little meditation or breathing exercises. Always start with the stretching or warming up. This will prepare your body and prevent any possible injury such as muscle pull. Do not jump into the really tough asanas at once!
10. Always end with a cool-down exercise:
This step is as important as beginning with warm-up exercises. The basic purpose of performing cool-down exercise is to reduce the heart rate, cool down your body temperature, and return the muscles to its optimal length. Besides, it also prevents the venous pooling of blood in the lower extremities, thereby nullifying the chances of dizziness and fainting.
11. Try getting lessons from the experts:
If you are an experienced yoga teacher, you might not need outside help. However, if you are a complete novice, you might want to buy yoga CDs or use online yoga classes, to guide you. While some yoga exercises are fairly simple and aimed at soothing your mind, others are designed to stretch your muscles and burn calories and these online classes and CDs are an easy way of mastering your exercises and also helping you decide which one suits you the best keeping your goal in mind thereby helping you select the right exercises.
[See More: Prenatal Yoga Exercises]
5 Simple Yoga Exercises for Beginners at Home:
The following are the five simple yoga asanas that does not require much expertise and can be easily done from home even by a novice. We also tell you how to do yoga at home, step by step. Here is how can we do yoga at home.
1. Tadasana (Mountain Pose):
In case you are wondering how to begin yoga at home, this is good yoga for beginners at home, to begin with. This asana teaches to stand like a mountain with steadiness. The name Tada means mountain in Sanskrit, and that is from where this asana has received its name.
Benefits:
- This asana improves focus and concentration of a person
- It stretches the muscles and thereby helps in increasing your height.
Method:
- Stand upright with a slight distance between your heels and hands hanging down beside the torso.
- Gently lift your body up from the heels putting the complete weight of the body on the toes.
- Lift your ankles and firm your thigh muscles while moving them inwards and balancing the body.
- Now slowly raise the hands towards the sky stretching as much as you can.
- Make sure that your ears, shoulders, hips, and ankles are all in one line.
- Take the support of the wall initially to make sure about the alignment.
2. Vrikshasana (Tree Pose):
This is another yoga exercise for beginners at home. This pose as the name suggests makes you stand strong like a tree and thus develops the sense of grounding.
Benefits:
- Improves the balance of the body
- Strengthens the legs and back
Method:
- Stand straight on the ground.
- Place your right foot high on the left thigh with the sole of the foot rested flat and firm on the thigh.
- Keep the left leg straight and strong and maintain the balance.
- As you inhale, slowly lift both your hands over your head and join in a Namaskara pose.
- Take a few deep breaths while ensuring that your spine is erect.
- Slowly as you exhale, bring down your hands and also release your right foot.
3. Adho Mukho Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose):
In case you want it more easy, here is how to start yoga at home for beginners. This is very easy yet very effective asana that stretches the hamstrings and chest and lengthens the spine that provides additional blood flow to the brain.
Benefits:
- This asana acts like an energy booster energizing your body instantly.
- Provides an additional blood flow to the head.
Method:
- Form a table like a pose.
- Stretch your hands, pushing your head towards your knee and also pushing your heel towards the floor.
- Stretch as much as you can.
4. Trikonasana (Triangle Pose):
Trikona means triangle in Sanskrit. It is also known as triangle pose. In this asana, the torso and the legs stretch while mobilizing the hips. This yoga promotes deep breathing and thus leaves one with an enlivening effect. Here is how to practice yoga at home for beginners, for this pose.
Benefits:
- This asana strengthens the knees, legs, ankles, chest, and arms.
- This increases the physical and mental stability of the body.
- This asana improves the digestion and also strengthens the abdominal organs of the body.
- It also helps in relieving the back pain and serves as a therapy for flat foot and infertility.
Method:
- Stand straight with your legs apart.
- Make sure that the right foot is placed outside at 90° and the left foot is placed inside at 15°.
- Align the right heel’s centre with the center of the arch of the left foot.
- Now taking a deep breath to bend your body towards the right below the hips keeping the waist straight.
- Make sure your body is bent sideways and not forward or backward.
- Repeat the same procedure for the left side and perform at least 5 such cycles.
5. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose):
One of the best exercise for the ones complaining of a constant backache this asana strengthens the lower back muscles and makes the spine flexible. Bhujang means cobra in Sanskrit, and hence this asana is also known as the cobra pose.
Benefits:
- Stretches the shoulder, chest, and abdominal muscles reducing the stiffness in the lower back.
- Improves flexibility and blood circulation in the body.
- Relieves stress and fatigue.
Method:
- Lie down straight on your abdomen with your feet apart at shoulder level and toes pointing outwards.
- Rest your hands beside your shoulder and lift your body from the waist as you inhale.
- Pull the torso towards the back as much as you can while getting support from the hands.
- Exhale as you come back to the starting position. Repeat 3-4 cycles.
Benefits of Yoga for Beginners at Home:
Practising yoga at home does have many benefits. Some of the key positive points of performing Popular yoga poses at home are:
- Create your own schedule without having to follow the group.
- No time constraints.
- You have privacy at home.
- There is no need to pay extra for the classes.
- It helps you discover yourself.
- Practising yoga at home inculcates self-discipline.
- There is no pressure from external monitoring.
Precautions and Contradictions Of Yoga At Home:
However, never forget on taking a few precautions and safety measures for yourself! Before learning how to start yoga at home for beginners, one needs to keep in mind certain precautions:
- Never perform yoga after eating heavy meals.
- You should maintain a gap of a minimum of 3 hours between meals and yoga.
- Ensure that you are well hydrated.
- Your clothing must be comfortable and breathable.
- Ensure that the environment is free from all sorts of distractions.
- Never ever perform yoga directly on the floor. Always use a yoga mat.
- Do not overdo difficult poses.
- Opt for simple asanas which are doable without hurting your body.
Yoga is a difficult form of art that needs thorough practice over some time. Especially for beginners, a lot of asanas can be quite tricky in their angles. They involve twisting and bending of organs in difficult positions. By trying to achieve more than what your body can do, you might end up in spasms, ligament issues and sometimes fractures. It is always better to start with simple postures like Pranayama, and slowly upgrade to high levels. Also, synchronizing breathing with movements is very important and must not be forgotten. We hope this article has uncovered all your questions on how to practice yoga at home for beginners.
Some Additional Tips:
The following are some additional tips that one must consider while doing yoga at home.
- The biggest caution while doing yoga at home, especially for beginners, is to prevent injury.
- Begin with simple exercises and do not try complex yoga forms unless under proper guidance or you have someone to support.
- Always check your medical condition and consult your doctor before beginning with yoga at home as certain yoga poses cannot be done in certain medical conditions.
All you need to begin yoga at home and to do it regularly is focus, confidence and determination to do it. If you are motivated and committed, nothing can stop you from achieving your goals. Hence keep track, do yoga at home regularly without missing, be comfortable on your health and body, and work out at your convenient space. Track the progress and keep a note of results. That is it; you are good to go without any fear and doubts.
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers:
Q1. Can I do yoga at home on my own?
Ans: Yoga is one such exercise that requires hardly any equipment (practically nothing except for a yoga mat) and thus can be quickly done at home. However, while doing yoga at home, you must take care that you stay motivated and also do not cause any injury to yourself in over excitement.
Q2. What do you need for doing yoga at home?
Ans: The only thing that you need for doing yoga at home is your own yoga mat. Wear comfortable, breathable clothes, play some motivational music in the background, and begin your yoga at home.
Q3. How to start yoga at home for beginners?
Ans: Starting yoga at home can ultimately save you time, money, and energy. However, as a beginner, you must select 4-5 easy yoga poses and try mastering the same. Once your body gets used to exercising you can slowly and gradually increase the number of exercises and also the number of repetitions.
Q4. What are the steps to do yoga at home?
Ans: The following are the steps to do yoga at home:
- Begin with little warm-up exercises.
- Then move to the various yoga poses that you want to practice.
- Do not forget to conclude with the cool-down stretching exercises.
Q5. What are the possible drawbacks of doing yoga at home?
Ans: Though doing yoga at home can save you time, energy, and money. However, there are certain drawbacks to doing yoga at home. The following are a few drawbacks of doing yoga at home:
- The biggest drawback is continuity. You might be tempted to miss your yoga practice. Besides at home, several people and situations are coming and going that might sideline your yoga practices.
- Lack of motivation is possible in doing yoga at home
- Lack of proper guidance, there is a possibility of injury if some yoga posture is done wrong.
