Nowadays, we all (or the most of us) do yoga in a suitable routine for its countless health benefits. However, not many of us get the correct yoga gestures. Making mistakes is unavoidable no matter what you are doing, included doing yoga. Surprisingly, the most common yoga mistakes have nothing to do with the physical alignment. They are all about our attitude, expectations and ourselves. Here are 5 yoga mistakes you should avoid to achieve the full benefits of yoga.
Holding your breath
The word yoga means union. Practicing yoga is more than just a physical practice, it involves the uniting of body and mind, movement, and breath. Therefore, paying attention to your breath is the most important in yoga practices. Without constant breathing, your muscles don’t get the oxygen they need to support your body weight, and bend at will, especially during a challenging pose. Moreover, observing how your breath reacts to your movements will keep the mind alert and present. When breath and movement synchronize, you are able to experience the magic of yoga when the mind becomes quiet.
Pushing yourself too hard
This might be the one of most frequent yoga mistakes. It is natural that you want to make perfection by being able to perform difficult poses. However, pushing your body too hard, your body might react by tightening up to protect itself and lessen your flexibility. Another possible consequence of pushing too hard is to cause injury.
The scope of yoga is to calm and ease your body, your mind, and soul. Therefore, leave your worries at the door and never compare yourself to other people, especially who seems to perform extreme yoga poses perfectly and effortlessly since everyone’s body is unique. Yoga should never be painful, it is all about awareness. Embrace your body, your soul and listen to them, work with them gently to achieve the best from yoga, together.
Overeating before practice
It is true that with a full stomach, you are not comfortable to do any exercise. This causes the blood supply to your stomach for digestion, leaving your muscles in a shortage of the energy needed for a successful performance. Moreover, when doing somebody twist yoga poses, a stuffed stomach can be harmful to you. Interestingly, this is the common yoga mistake people make.
To avoid a full stomach while still have your body fueled before doing yoga, you might want to keep a small and qualified portion and eat at least an hour before the yoga session. An empty stomach is not good for your body’s performance, either a stuffed one.
Skipping the warm-up and the cooldown
We all know that warm up before and cool down after exercising are very important. Sadly, many yoga learners skip these steps.
Warming up introduces and opens up the body gently to the actual activity, bring heat to the body through increased circulation, thus, prevent cramp or over stretching. If you give your body time and ask kindly, it will respond nicely, right?
When it comes to the cooling down, people who keep skipping this step might not know they are missing one of the most crucial parts of yoga. Cooling down means balancing what you have done, softening what you have tried to strengthen, and bringing back stability to the area you have loosened. Thus, this action can help prevent muscle soreness, and slowly lower your heart rate and blood pressure to avoid dizziness. Moreover, when you give yourself time to relax, your nervous system can assimilate the benefits and you will feel great after every yoga session.
Doing improper form
Apparently, yoga is good for the body, mind, and soul, but it can wreck your body if you don’t do it properly. By holding the incorrect posture, using the wrong muscles, you can risk injury. If you do a pose improperly on a regular basis, after a few years an injury can arise and might not be easy to heal.
If you are a newbie to yoga, don’t hesitate to talk with your instructor about any pose that you think you might doing wrong or just don’t feel right. The secret to success is that knowing your poses and understand the hidden facts. Start from the foundational poses to ensure your strength, balance, and flexibility that needed to tackle more advanced moves.
In conclusion, remember that there is no one who starts out being good at yoga immediately. It is a practice, nothing is so-called perfection. The goal is to listen to your body, trust yourself and constantly improve. Notice these 5 yoga mistakes when you do yoga and stay cool!