Today yoga gets more and more popular for its ultimate healing potential. There are numerous directions developed: bhakti yoga, karma yoga, agni yoga, raja yoga, kriya yoga, hatha yoga, new fitness yoga, power strength yoga and many more.

Many of us want to become healthier and happier, but don’t know what to start with. We miss so many opportunities postponing practice to later times! The sad truth is that most people start working on own health when something goes very wrong, not earlier.

Then, what do you start with? The answer is simple: dedicate yourself to making your body healthy and clean.

This condition is a must before you begin any mental practice because mental practices can harm your body if it is not healthy. Moreover, mental practice will not be effective if made prior to body yoga.

Eight limbs of yoga have been developed basing on ancient Patanjali’s work and were checked by several centuries of practice:

1. Yama (”Abstentions”): Nonviolence, truth, non-covetousness, chastity, and abstain from attachment to possessions

2. Niyama (”Observances”): Purity, contentment, austerities, study, and surrender

3. Asana: Postures and positions

4. Pranayama: Breath techniques and energy work

5. Pratyahara (”Abstraction”): Directing sense organs inside

6. Dharana (”Concentration”): Controlling your focus

7. Dhyana (”Meditation”): Deep contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation

8. Samadhi (”Liberation”): Uniting consciousness with the object of meditation

Whole life can be dedicated to these eight steps

Our Western mind often omits essential points and keeps thinking that we can jump right into Samadhi after we did few postures and some breath work.

Yoga path is consecutive and in order to reach excellence in Asana, we need to integrate Yama and Niyama in our life. Later we will talk about these in detail, but now we should remember that Yoga is not only a body exercise, - Yoga involves inner work on your attitude towards people and world around you.

Then, how do you start your yoga practice?

1. Find a group class or a personal teacher

Following three variants have own advantages and disadvantages: group class, personal practice with a teacher and your home practice.

Group class will greatly support you on the first stages of practice. You will find people in a group who reached some valuable results, you will be able to talk to them on your open questions and ask about their experience. You will see an example of how yoga works through the time. The main warning for a group class is: do not compare yourself with others. It takes time to gain health and excellence; don’t rush for outer form. Open your mind and enjoy the class, the people, and the flow.

Individual class with a teacher is a great option to build so-called asana architecture. Several classes will be enough to get proper posture advice and remember how correct asana feels like, what muscles should be in tonus and what parts of the body should relax.

Choosing a group and a teacher is an important topic; I will cover it in a separate post but here I want to emphasize that you should feel yourself comfortable with the teacher, the group and the place you chose. Try several yoga studios; see which one fits your inner state best.

Your home practice will soon become an essential part of your yoga path and life in general, but on the first stages you need to gain support of people and community involved in yoga. E-books and online class will not give you such an experience, and that is why I highly recommend finding a studio you like.

2. Yoga kit

Yoga doesn’t demand much: a comfortable cloth and a mat are enough to start your practice. All other things are optional. Belt is used for pulling different parts of the body which you cannot reach with your hands (or pulling with hands creates too much tension). Bricks are usually used for raising different parts of the body to make asana easier (for example, using a brick under your hand in Trikonasana).

Meditation pillow will make your sitting postures more comfortable. Many find that sitting with a straight back is painful, and it gets even worse when you learn half lotus, lotus or virasana. Meditation pillow slightly raises your tail bone helping your legs and back to relax a little.

And the final advice on beginner yoga tools is a mirror. It is not necessary, but nice-to-have. You don’t need it for every yoga class you do, but you will need it occasionally to adjust your postures.

Later on, when you start working on kriyas (cleaning procedures) you will need some additional tools.

3. Daily home practice

While a group class is important to get into yoga flow, learn asanas and breathing techniques, it is your home practice that gives you deepest experience. It is home practice that helps you master in asanas you learned in a group or an individual class; and moreover, it is home practice that best develops consciousness, diligence and inner harmony.

You don’t have to start with a full 1.5 hours class; 15-20 minutes a day will be enough for the beginning. Make sure you spend this time with full presence and awareness, positive thinking and inner smile.

Day-to-day home practice best develops self-discipline you can later apply to any aspect of your life.

4. Involve a friend or a family member

It is always easier to start your practice when you have a community. Group class is a great option, but having a friend or a family member involved is much better. Even if you don’t have people practicing yoga with you, you can enlist someone’s support and tell about your progress.

Join online community in addition to this, start sharing your experiences, feel that you are not alone on your path.

It often happens so that even if your family doesn’t join your practice now, - they will probably do it in future. You will become a great example of wellness and healthy lifestyle and everyone will notice this change. People naturally seek happiness, and when they see an example, they start believing and following.

In my case, in 2 years after I started practicing yoga, my parents and my brother joined me. In another year, my husband joined me (I am so happy about it!J). We all feel supporting thoughts in each other.

5. Yoga reading

There are many books that will support your practice and widen your knowledge. You will find yoga how-tos in every book store. I recommend you to buy few original books with comments of contemporary teachers. You can find great books from B.K.S. Iyengar with asana descriptions and recommendations. It is sad that “How to lose weight with yoga”, “No-fat yoga”, “Become a yoga teacher in 10 days” and alike books filled book shelves and offer non-balanced, one-sided information. Seek good books with deep texts. I will post a list of books that helped me most some day soon.

6. Yama and Niyama thinking

To make your practice and self-healing more effective, you need to dedicate time to inner transformation. Most illnesses we have are based on our mental impurity. Yama and Niyama practice helps you clean your mind and switch to positive thinking. Become light and peaceful; clean your mind from greed, envy and aggression. Try to implement yama and niyama principles one by one and see how easier your life becomes.

7. Reconsider your nutrition

Diet is a fundamental topic for many practitioners. Yoga offers you to follow several principles:

- don’t eat too much

- eat more veg and natural food

- don’t eat at least 2 hours before sleep or yoga practice (or eat something light if you can’t stand the hunger)

- try to serve food yourself

- keep positive mindset when serving food

- try not to drink while eating and right after the meal (some teachers list Ginger tea as an exception, because of it’s power to straighten digestion fire)

Being vegetarian is another cornerstone people often raise. I saw many people who harmed themselves by forcing to stop eating meat. If you can’t stop thinking about meat, your stomach will produce gastric juice able to make a hole in it! My suggestion is: if you don’t feel a need in becoming vegetarian right now – don’t do it. It will come up naturally some day. There’s no need in additional tension connected to not eating meat.

On the other hand, many people eat meat not being aware of its source and the way meat is produced.

8. Create rituals and use music

Beginners often find it difficult to start practice. As any habit and any action, it demands some effort. You will make it easier for yourself if you create some strong motivation, a day-to-day ritual and if you help yourself to develop concentration. Music is one of the tools you could use. Choose calm or dynamic music that fits your practice style. I uploaded several mantra albums in one of previous posts.

9. Create a space and time for practice

Traditional yoga texts advice to choose a clean room with fresh air. Ask your family not to disturb you during the practice and dedicate this time to yourself. Enjoy it; make it with a smile and love in your heart. Don’t be too strict with yourself and you will soon discover that you long for daily practice time and highly appreciate it.

I hope these recommendations helped you to make a first step or improve your practice. I wish you deep insights, meaningful classes and inner peace

Pictures used in this post were taken from farbfroh, judepics, madpai flickr galleries

More to read:

How to start doing yoga

Yoga for beginners on myyogaonline

How to start on abc-yoga