Just because you are part of yoga class doesn’t mean you’re doing the right moves. Even people with tons of experience can make mistakes.
Practicing yoga the wrong way will only lead to form and posture related injuries. You should constantly try to improve and be alert so as not to make any postural mistakes.
Here are some common mistakes people make while doing yoga:
- Not breathing
Sometimes without realizing it, we hold our breath, especially when we do complicated yoga poses. Oxygen is essential for our blood and muscles to do the act the act.
While doing yoga one must practice full belly breaths. That is to breathe in as much as one can and exhale till you feel that your lungs are empty.
- Over doing it or pushing too hard
Our body gives us signals when it can’t do anymore. There are exercises that require you to cry out in pain to achieve the benefit of the act.
But in yoga you should never overdo it. If you feel any sort of pain or exhaustion, please stop immediately.
- Comparing yourself to others
Everyone’s body is made differently. Some are more flexible than others. So if the lady next to you is able to bring her feet to her face, doesn’t mean that you can too.
Listen to what your body is saying to you. Yoga is all about individual wellbeing. Don’t be hard on yourself by comparing yourself with others.
- Doing yoga on a full stomach
Yoga is like all other exercises. You should never do it on a full stomach.
You should of course not starve yourself, but make sure you eat a protein and carb rich meal at least one hour before the yoga session. You will need this to fuel up your yoga session and feel energized.
- Skipping the basics and moving on to advanced poses
As the proverb goes, ‘Slow and steady wins the race’, you should also not rush into the advanced yoga poses immediately.
Start with the basics. Let your body understand the basic moves. Once you are comfortable with them, you can ask your instructor if he or she feels you can move on to the more advanced poses.
Moving on to advanced poses without trying out the basic ones can cause injury as you are not aware of which muscles help you in the particular postures.
- Not raising doubts or questions
Keeping things bottled up inside you is no help to you. If you have any doubts or questions, don’t hesitate to ask the instructor.
Asking questions helps in getting the postures right and even prevents injuries. If you plan to keep silent, might as well just get a CD and skip the class.
- Skip cooling down
You might think that yoga does not require cooling down. But you are wrong. Just lay back and relax.
Practice breathing and relax those muscles so that they don’t get sore. The cool down process also helps in slowly lowering your fast heart beat so that you don’t get dizzy by the sudden halt of the exercise.
- Not taking the right class
There are different classes available for yoga. Not all are the same. There are some only for meditation, pregnant women, power yoga etc…
So if a woman who is pregnant takes up power yoga that is for people to energize themselves and get fit, she will land up injuring herself. Choose the level of the class also correctly.
It doesn’t make sense for beginner to take an intermediary class. Even your body will not be able to cope with higher levels.
- Picking the wrong position in class
It is not necessary to pick the first row in the class to get the best out of the class. As a matter of fact, somewhere in between is ideal, as depending on the direction, you are always surrounded by people who you can watch or follow and do your yoga poses.
- Not relaxing your mind
Yoga is done to relax the body and soul. If you can’t stop thinking and keep filling your mind with thoughts about dinner or the guy in front of you, you lose out on the positives of yoga. You mind doesn’t have the ability to multitask.
Get the maximum out of your yoga classes and avoid these commonly made mistakes.
Written by: Rasha Ashraf
