Yoga is something we all agree is relaxing; it allows you to take some time for yourself in one of the healthiest of ways, and ensure that you’re focusing on your own mental and physical health.
However, if you’ve found that yoga and meditation is good for you, but you’re not all too impressed with the effects of the exercise, then something needs to change! Maybe it’s your technique, maybe it’s the type of yoga you’re doing – either way, let yourself take some more control over how effective yoga can be for you with the points below.
Block Out Distractions
Blocking out distractions is a big part of yoga, but don’t worry, if you’re struggling, we’re not just going to tell you you need to do this! Because we can all be easily distracted – a phone pinging with a notification, noise outside your window, family or friends, etc., and then the excellent yoga technique you’d only just achieved is quickly forgotten about.
To prevent this from happening in the future, take some steps to physically block the world out. Turn your phone off, close the window and use some ear plugs, and even take yourself off somewhere away from everyone else. Focus your senses inwards, in the same way someone using mindfulness would, and get in touch with yourself and yourself alone.
Work on Your Breathing
Breathing is quite possibly the most important part of your yoga technique, and it’s always worth it to check in with how well you breathe during your exercise. Breathing calmly and slowly is a good sign; it shows off your current mental state, and how well you’re achieving the peace you’re searching for.
However, if your breathing is often irregular and ill paced, you may want to use some more in depth breathing techniques to help yoga be more effective for you. For example, check out the 478 breathing method, or try watching some Pranayama videos, sometimes known as ‘yogic breathing’ for some general tips.
Perform Your Poses Properly
And finally, you may be misaligning yourself when doing yoga, which is stopping you from exercising in a healthy, safe way. You may be accidentally hurting yourself, which will definitely stop you from trying yoga again in the future!
So, to stop this from happening again, you need to take things slow, and practice your poses many times as you need to. Watch some tutorials, make sure there’s a bona fide yoga teacher on the screen in front of you, and don’t tear yourself down for not being able to do a movement as soon as you would like to. Your muscles need to learn to be flexible first, and the more you practice, the quicker this will happen.
Yoga can be very effective for your mental and physical health, but only if you’re doing it properly! Make sure you follow guidelines like those above when trying to improve on your health through yoga, as it’ll help in the long run.
