Yoga Coach Yoga is a gentle sport. Therefore, yoga practitioners do not necessarily have to practice difficult postures to be effective, but can choose basic yoga exercises at home for physical and mental training.
4 principles to remember to practice yoga at home properly
1. Choose the right yoga time for you
The most popular time to practice yoga is early morning or late evening. However, each period has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Morning is the best time to practice yoga at home. At this time, your spirit will be very alert, comfortable, combined with a quiet space, surely the results of exercise will be great. But in the morning our body is still stiff after a long sleep, it will be difficult to practice advanced postures.
On the contrary, when practicing yoga at home in the evening, our body after a day of activity is much more supple, easily performing more difficult movements. However, the evening space is not completely quiet and our bodies after a long day of activities are quite tired, so it will be difficult to concentrate.
2. Choose the ideal yoga practice space
The advantage of practicing yoga at home is that it gives you a feeling of closeness, you can practice in any place you like such as terrace, garden, balcony. If you do not like to practice yoga outdoors, you can choose the bedroom or the living room. But no matter where you practice yoga, the most essential thing is still a spacious and airy space.
3. Don’t forget to warm up before exercising
Don’t think that it’s necessary to warm up only when working at the center. Yoga, like other sports, also needs you to warm up and warm up before each practice session. You just need to spend 5-10 minutes to rotate the wrists, ankles, rotate the joints, make the muscles more flexible and the body warm up, then you are ready to start a relaxing yoga session at home .
4. Try to practice breathing right
When practicing yoga at home, you need to pay more attention to exercises and breathing combinations. Because there will be no teacher to count the beat and adjust if you do it wrong. The way you breathe when practicing yoga is also very important. Just focus on breathing and breathing properly, gradually your postures will go deeper and further.
10 basic home yoga exercises
1. Mountain Pose – Foundational Yoga Exercises
The mountain is the foundation pose for all standing poses in yoga and is suitable for beginners. This pose will help you feel how the ground “sticks” under your feet. It may seem like just standing, but in reality, this pose is the foundation for a lot to come, so be patient.
Doing
- Stand up straight, feet touching
- Release 10 toes and press firmly into the ground
- 2 hands down, open chest
- Hold for 5-8 breaths
2. Downward-Facing Dog Pose
Downward facing dog is a familiar basic yoga practice that is taught in most yoga classes. This pose helps to stretch and strengthen the whole body. It is often said, practicing this pose regularly will keep you away from the hospital and the doctor.
Doing
- Starting in a crawling position, raise your hips until your legs and arms are stretched forward
- Hands shoulder-width apart
- Lower your shoulders and chest down, feet touching the floor, try to push back, keeping your arms and legs straight
- If the back thighs are too tight, let the knees sag
- Try to straighten your arms and move them forward if necessary
- Hold the pose for 5-8 breaths
3. Plank pose – Familiar yoga practice
Plank pose is quite easy to do and is a yoga pose for beginners. This basic yoga pose helps you learn how to balance on your hands with the support of your entire body. This is a great pose to tone your abs and help you learn to breathe while balancing.
Doing
- Hands and feet touch the floor, arms shoulder width apart, feet closed
- Raise your heels so that your whole body is in a straight line from head to toe
- Adjust the position of the lower abdomen and shoulders and hold the position for 8-10 breaths
4. Triangle Pose
Triangle Pose is a great pose to stretch the hips, open up the lungs, strengthen the legs, and tone the whole body.
Doing
- Stand up straight, feet wide, arms shoulder width apart
- Right foot rotates at a 90 degree angle, left foot rotates inward at a 45 degree angle
- Place your right hand on your right ankle, raise your left hand towards the ceiling so that your hands are in a straight line
- Keep your arms straight in this pose, eyes looking up towards the left fingers
- Hold for 5-8 breaths
- Switch sides and repeat this pose
5. Tree Pose
This is a great pose for beginners to improve concentration, learn how to breathe while standing, and know how to balance on one leg.
Doing
- Stand up straight, feet close together
- Slowly raise the right leg up against the inner thigh of the left leg
- Clasp your hands and look at a point in front of you
- Hold for 8-10 breaths then switch sides
- While performing, avoid letting the body lean towards the supporting leg
- Tighten your abs, relax your shoulders
6. Warrior Pose 1 – Basic yoga exercise to increase flexibility
Warrior Pose 1 helps to increase the strength and endurance of the practitioner during a yoga practice. In addition, this pose also helps you increase your confidence, stretch your hips, and strengthen your lower abs.
Doing
- Stand up straight, take a big step back with left foot, lower left heel
- Tilt the big toes about 75 degrees forward
- Clasp your hands and bring your hands above your head, eyes looking up, chest puffed out
- Hold the pose for 5 breaths
- Then step up with your left foot and switch sides with your right foot.
7. Warrior Pose 2
Warrior 2 helps to open up the inner thighs and perineum. This pose is the opening pose for many other poses such as triangle pose, half moon pose…
Doing
- Stand up straight, legs wide open
- Right foot rotates 90 degrees and left foot 45 degrees
- Knees should be perpendicular to the floor
- Spread your arms wide to the sides
- Hold the pose for 8-10 breaths
- Then do the same for the opposite side
8. Sitting leaning forward
This pose helps stretch the hamstrings, lower back, upper back, and hips. This is a pose that helps you learn to breathe in an uncomfortable position.
If you feel pain while exercising, stop. If you find your back or legs are stretched, continue to regulate your breathing and gradually relax your body. You may not need to keep your knees straight at first, just keep your feet touching.
Doing
- Sit in a position with your legs straight, hands at hip level
- Inhale bring your hands up, slowly exhale, lower your hands to touch your feet, bend your arms
- When you feel a stretch in your hips, stop and hold the pose for 8-10 breaths
9. Bridge Pose
This is a gentle backbending pose that helps stretch your abs and back.
Doing
- Lie on your back, legs hip-width apart
- Slowly push your hips up, hands clasped together or hands down on the floor
- Hold this pose for 8-10 breaths, then lower your hips and repeat 2 more times
10. Baby Pose
This pose is not only good for beginners but also good for practitioners of other levels. You can do this pose to relax if you feel tired from doing downward facing dog.
Or every day, before going to bed or whenever feeling stressed, tired, take time to practice this pose and you will feel much more comfortable.
Doing
- Sit on your feet, feet together, arms stretched out in front of you.
- Slowly lower your forehead to the floor and relax your entire body.
- Breathe evenly and hold this pose for as long as you want.
Some difficulties when practicing yoga at home
Easy to do wrong basic movements
There are some basic movements and always present in your yoga session, surely you think you will never do it wrong. However, in reality, it is very easy for people to do wrong things that seem simple and familiar. It is possible to list some basic yoga movements, but many people do it wrong such as downward facing dog, bridge pose, crocodile pose or even corpse pose.
I don’t know if I did the straight move or not
When you practice yoga with your instructor, you will be aligned with each movement and breath, and the teacher will definitely remind you when your movements are not straight or really stretched. However, when practicing yoga at home, it will be very difficult for you to know if you have done it right or not, especially if you do not have an observation mirror.
In the long run, this creates negative effects on your bones, spine and health. You can fix it by recording your own workout videos and seeing where your movements go wrong.
Shorten practice time
When practicing yoga alone, you tend to shorten the time to perform a movement and quickly return to a resting position. This is also easy to explain, because when there is no instructor or no one to practice with you will lose motivation to prolong a difficult movement, or it is simply a movement that you do not like. So when practicing yoga at home requires you to be completely self-disciplined.
Practicing yoga at home saves you travel time, but if you are not really confident to do yoga movements correctly, download LEEP.APP right away, our teachers are always ready to guide you at any time
