Building Your Own Yoga Practice

Building your own yoga practice is a very rewarding endeavour. It's
nice to not have to think about it in class, but to develop your own
practice gives you the benefit of customizing your routine, to your
own likes and needs. Of course, you need experience. Even this basic
guideline requires a familiarity with the practice because there are
MANY poses, sequences, and combinations. Technique should be learned
and practiced in class first!Here is a simple yoga practice guideline
to get you started:Warm UpStart your practice in mountain pose, and
take some deep inhale and exhalations. Many people will either do some
forward bends, side stretches and simple twists.Cardio/StrengthThe
hardest part of your yoga practice should go after the warm up. In
Ashtanga yoga this is normally where the vinyasa sequences come in. A
common sun salutation consists of: forward bend, plank, chaturanga,
upward dog, downward dog.Then from downward, pick a standing pose such
as: crescent warrior 1, 2, 3 or reverse, triangle, prayer etc. After
every standing pose, perform the sequence again and then repeat on the
other side.BalanceMove on to balance before you are too fatigued to
hold the poses. There are some balance poses such as tree, where you
are only maintaining your balance. Others, like crow, require a great
deal of strength and concentration as well!FloorNow is a good time for
floor poses. Wheels, shoulder stand, plough, headstand, back bends,
seated twists and forward bends go nicely here!RelaxationStart by
going into child's pose, and then savasana (corpse pose) to relax and
let your body start to tingle!Many will meditate at this time, but for
most, the workout is complete!This is a "skeleton" of a yoga program.
It's meant to give you an idea of a good natural order and flow of
poses.