Have you heard a lot about yoga but don’t know where to start? The hardest part of yoga is unfolding the mat.
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You will plunge into the practice of yoga, learn its basic principles and feel the instant effect.
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Why yoga? This is the best workout for body and mind.
By bringing yourself into excellent physical shape, you will also receive harmony, wisdom and awareness.
Yoga gives willpower, motivation, energy and healthy ambitions.
It improves the quality of life – and you are able to endlessly enjoy the world around you.
YOGA SAFETY
It is not recommended to eat solid food later than 4 hours before class. By “dense” food, we mean a full meal of two or three courses, high in calories, with lots of protein. After taking a “light meal” should pass 2-3 hours. A “light meal” could be, for example, a salad of fresh vegetables, fruit, or some rice or other cereal. If the feeling of hunger before class is too strong, it makes no sense to endure through force, it is quite acceptable to drink a glass of freshly squeezed juice, half a glass of milk, tea with honey, some fruits or dried fruits in 40-60 minutes. You can also drink before the start of the class within reasonable limits – about 100 ml of warm water. During class, you can drink 1-2 sips every half hour, if you feel an urgent need.
Be sure to empty the bladder and intestines before class.
Drink and eat no earlier than half an hour after class. If workouts are held in the evening, we strongly recommend that you only drink after class.
Personal well-being: listen to bodily sensations. After practice, slight pain (whining) in the muscles is acceptable, which may increase the next day. Relief will bring a warm shower or bath, a light massage, a 15-20 minute workout, or a regular yoga class. Interrupting the practice due to muscle fatigue caused by stress is not recommended. Particular attention should be paid to joint pain. Mild discomfort is possible especially at the beginning of the practice. But there shouldn’t be any pain. In case of persistent pain in the joints, stop the practice and consult a doctor.
General safety rules in yoga.
These rules apply to all exercises without exception:
› Don’t exercise through pain and discomfort. This is the main, although not sufficient, condition for safe practice. Pain is always a signal of an injury that has occurred or is possible. To protect from damage is its natural meaning. There is no situation when it would be useful and safe to endure pain during yoga classes.
› Do not allow obvious sensations in the spine, joints and internal organs. If moderate sensations in the muscles are quite acceptable, then the internal organs are normally not felt by a person. They begin to appear only when the disease. The same can be said about the joints and spine. Any sensations in these areas are a signal of possible damage.
› Parts of the body that have suffered injury or disease need extra attention. In these zones, even minimal overloads can harm, causing exacerbation or re-injury. Avoid the slightest discomfort in them.
› Do not allow hypothermia of the body. Cold muscles are less elastic, and the risk of damaging them is greatly increased. In addition, you can catch a cold, because during relaxation, the body loses a lot of heat imperceptibly, because the skin capillaries expand, and it seems to you that it is quite warm.
› Do not allow yourself to fall asleep in asanas. Although it is believed that good relaxation is the basis of yoga, one should not turn off the mind in asanas. Too deep a trance reduces sensitivity, as a result, yoga can cause serious harm.
› Do not exercise after taking painkillers, drugs, or alcohol. These substances reduce sensitivity, and as a result, you may not notice overload and injury.
› Be attentive when exercising, pay attention to the sensations of the body. Most injuries occur due to inattention and poor sensitivity, when a person does not notice the body’s signals of overload until they turn into obvious pain.
› The spine should be straight in most asanas. Although there are a small number of postures where the back is bent, in most asanas the spine should be strictly straight. In particular, this applies to all twists, bends, sitting and standing postures. Any curvature of the spine in them creates an uneven load on the ligaments and intervertebral discs and can cause injury.
› Avoid maximum amplitude in the movements of the joints and spine. Many yoga adepts, seeking to develop flexibility, go far beyond the anatomically safe range of motion. In this case, the load from the muscles passes to the joints and ligaments, overstretching them. Stay within 70%-80% of maximum range when bending, arching, and twisting.
Safety in standing poses
In standing poses, the knees are most often injured. This happens sometimes even with very moderate practice. So here are some important rules:
› The feet should be parallel in body twisting poses such as Parivritta Trikonasana, Virabhadrasana, etc. If the back foot turns outward, it creates a twisting moment in the knee and injures the joint. For the knee, strong twisting is not a physiological and safe movement.
› The knees should not straighten to the end and bend backwards in poses with straight legs – Utthita Trikonasana, Ardha Chandrasana, etc.
› The knee should not protrude forward or fall inward in lunge poses, for example, Virabhadrasana, etc. The knee should be located strictly above the heel or slightly behind it.
Safety in sitting postures
In sitting postures, the knees are also most often injured, less often the ankle joints. Especially in this sense, Padmasana (“lotus position”) and Virasana (sitting between the heels) are dangerous. It is recommended to replace these postures with softer versions of sitting postures. However, even soft sitting postures can injure the knees if they are not mobile enough. In this case, you can use a pillow or brick, which are placed under the buttocks and thereby unload the knee joints. Another problem in sitting postures is excessive exposure time, when the legs begin to numb. This can cause problems with the innervation and blood supply to the legs. There are even cases of paralysis that have arisen. Avoid excessively long stay in these poses, increase exposure gradually.
Incline Safety
In slopes, the lower back most often suffers. This is especially dangerous when sitting, for example, Paschimottanasana. Trying to bend as deeply as possible, many slouch their backs, earning serious problems as a result – for example, hernia of the lumbosacral spine, pinched sciatic nerve, etc. Make sure that bending occurs in the hip joints, and not in the lower back. The back should be straight and extended as far as possible. It is permissible to bend your knees while doing this.
Safety in deflections
The most problematic parts of the body in backbends are the lower back and neck. The fact is that the spine unbends unevenly along its length: the neck and lower back are very mobile, and the thoracic region is almost motionless. In an effort to arch the back more, practitioners can injure the lower back and neck. This is especially true when bending while standing. It is important to follow a few safety rules:
› In deep backbends, twist the pelvis forward and tighten the buttocks, this will protect the lower back from overextension.
› Do not tilt your head back, the curve of the neck should be a natural continuation of the curve of the back.
› Avoid strong sensations in the neck and lower back; you should have a subjective sensation of uniform extension along the entire length of the spine.
› Do not slouch or raise your shoulders to your ears. They should be straightened and freely folded back. Otherwise, you can cause a spasm of the neck muscles.
› In backbends with support on the hands, do not unbend your arms to the end. There should be a slight cushioning sensation in the elbows.
Twisting Safety
The first problem area in twisting is the spine. Too deep twisting, associated with forced twisting of the body with the help of a hand and a stooped back, can seriously injure the spine, provoking the appearance of hernias and instability of the vertebrae.
Another, less obvious problem is the knees. In some standing poses, such as Ardha Matsyendrasana, the knees are noticeably loaded and can be injured. AT
In this case, the same rules apply as in sitting postures: to unload the knees, you can put a pillow or a brick under the pelvis. Here are the basic rules for twisting:
› Don’t slouch your back. This unevenly distributes the load along the spine, and can provoke spinal sprains and herniated discs.
› Do not twist yourself with your hands. Turn only due to the muscles of the back, and with your hands support the body, but do not twist.
› In sitting crunches, both pelvic bones should be on the floor. If this is not the case, place a pillow or brick under the pelvis.
› In lying crunches, both feet and both hands should be on the floor. If not, place a pillow or brick under your knees and shoulders. Otherwise, you can overload the spine.
Safety in the emphasis and balances on the hands
Elbows, shoulder joints, and wrists are most commonly affected in these positions. This is usually due to hyperextension or lack of joint mobility. The lower back and neck are also sometimes overloaded. Basic rules for performing stops and balances on the hands:
› Do not unbend your elbows to the end. You should feel some cushioning in your elbows.
› If you experience pain and discomfort in your wrists, lean not on your palms, but on your fists. It strengthens the wrists and protects them.
› Do not bend your lower back, do not throw back or lower your head too low, do not slouch your shoulders. Otherwise, you can provoke pain and muscle spasms in the muscles of the neck and back.
Safety precautions in inverted poses
The classic inverted poses are Shirshasana (headstand), Sarvangasana (shoulderstand), Halasana (plow pose). Many books describe the miraculous effects of inverted poses, this motivates many to master them. However, almost nowhere is it said about their danger. Inverted postures can cause serious harm to health, and unnoticed, which makes them doubly dangerous. In inverted postures, the weight of the body falls on the cervicothoracic spine. Anatomically, his vertebrae are not adapted to support such a weight. In the rack on shoulders and plow posture, extreme neck flexion is added to the body weight. As a result, the neck can be injured, which provokes hernia of the cervicothoracic spine and cerebrovascular accidents.
Another problem with inverted postures is the change in blood flow. In these positions, the blood rushes to the head. This creates a load on the vessels of the brain and the retina of the eye – organs that are extremely sensitive to the level of blood pressure. As a result, there is a risk of such serious diseases as retinal detachment, strokes, etc.
The danger lies in the fact that this influx of blood is not accompanied by great discomfort, and many do not feel any ailments until it is too late. Here are the basic rules for performing inverted poses, both classic options and simplified counterparts:
› Take the load off the cervical spine. Do not transfer your body weight to it in a headstand, leaning on your hands. In the Shoulderstand and Plow Pose, place a rolled-up blanket under your shoulders so that your head hangs down to relieve your neck.
› Do not allow a strong rush of blood to the head. A feeling of fullness in the skin of the face, redness of the eyes and skin of the face is a clear sign of overload of the vascular bed.
› Replace classic inverted poses with simpler counterparts if you personally or your immediate family have had problems such as increased intraocular or intracranial pressure, retinal detachment and dystrophy, brain tumors, strokes, hernia of the cervicothoracic spine, hypertension. And also if you are over 40-45 years old.
Contraindications for yoga
› stones in the gallbladder.
› You can not exercise immediately after operations on the organs of the abdominal cavity and chest (you need to wait 2-3 months); – mental illness, especially schizophrenia and psychotic tendencies;
› any acute diseases of internal organs (pancreatitis, cholecystitis, appendicitis);
› inguinal hernia;
› Significantly increased blood pressure, hypertension stage 2-3; significantly increased intracranial pressure;
› severe heart damage, ischemic disease; in the first 3-6 months after myocardial infarction;
› paroxysmal tachycardia, atrial fibrillation; aortic aneurysm and uncompensated heart defects;
› the first 6 months after a stroke;
› infectious diseases of the joints: for example, infectious or reactive arthritis;
› severe craniocerebral injuries and traumatic injuries of the spine (fractures of the bones of the spine in the stage of decompensation);
› infections of the brain or spinal cord;
› infectious lesions of the musculoskeletal system;
› neuroinfections;
› malignant neoplasms (ie cancer or sarcoma);
› severe blood diseases;
› colds and flu, elevated body temperature;
› pregnancy for a period of 3 months or more; in the first 3 months after childbirth;
› it is also better for women to skip classes on critical days;
› arthrosis of the hip and knee joints – coxarthrosis and gonarthrosis;
› damage to the menisci;
› intervertebral hernia of discs (hernia of the spine);
› listhesis (staircase displacements of the vertebrae);
› hypermobility syndrome, that is, a clear looseness of the joints and spine;
› with radicular syndromes (diseases of the spine, in which pain from the neck or lower back shoots through the nerve root into the arm or leg);
› a period of exacerbation of any disease, without first eliminating acute pain (especially acute pain in the neck or lower back);
› yoga is also better to stop if every time after yoga you feel worse, and such a nuisance continues over and over again, no matter how much you do – it means that you are doing something wrong, or yoga is contraindicated for you basically; in such a case, consult your doctor about the benefits and consult with your yoga instructor about what needs to be changed in your personal yoga practice.