Unlike most fitness programs or sports, yoga doesn’t have a lot of concrete tools other than your own body. No step, no weights, not even a ball. Yoga tools are simpler, such as breathing rhythms, balance poses, and chants.
Breathing is the most basic. Breathing during yoga should be long, slow, and rhythmic. This will lead to increased relaxation, enabling you to better reach a meditative state. Following the breathing pattern will enable you to relax, lose stress, and unwind, and breathing in a pattern with your instructor and classmates will help you feel connected. A physical benefit of the breathing pattern is the increased flexibility it will help you attain. Relaxing, and continuing to breathe regularly during a difficult stretch, will enable you to sink deeper still into that stretch, and to hold it longer.
Chants may occasionally be used in yoga. Chants are most common at the beginning and end of class. The most common chant is “omm” (considered by some to be the sound of the universe), but other chants may be used as well. Chants may be used during class every once in a while. Chants have several purposes. They are intended to release or intake energy, and to connect the members of the class. Chanting may be relaxing or invigorating.
Yoga poses are important to yoga. The main purpose of the poses is to teach balance, but posture, breathing, flexibility, and strength are all improved if the pose is done correctly. Several common poses you may encounter include:
- The warrior pose: the warrior pose is done by bending one knee and extending the arms up over the head. This pose stretches the chest and lungs, strengthens the shoulders, arms, and back, and stretches and strengthens the legs.
- The extended triangle pose: this pose is done with the legs apart, the body leaning to one side, and the highest arm lifted straight up towards the ceiling. The extended triangle stretches the arm, shoulder, and stomach, and strengthens the stomach.
- Downward-facing dog (more commonly just called downward dog): this pose is done with hands and feet on the floor, arms and legs straight and extended, and back and rear reaching towards the ceiling. This pose is the most commonly used yoga pose. It strengthens the arms, stretches backs of legs, back and gluteus muscles, and focuses breathing.
Most main aspects of yoga may be considered yoga teaching tools, since the main aspects of yoga interrelate and help with the other aspects. Yoga is a simple activity, needing no equipment other than your body, your mind, and perhaps a mat, but its very simplicity contributes to its power, as it teaches the participants how to relax, how to focus, and how to take charge of one’s life physically, mentally, and spiritually. All the teaching tools mentioned above combine to make it what it is — not simply a sport or a fitness program, but an aid and tool to creating a better life for yourself, and a better, happier, you.
By Riannon Cutler