If you are only starting out in yoga, it will probably be some time before you are able to knot your arms and legs up until no one knows where you start or end.
On the other hand, if you’ve been involved in yoga for a while, you probably know your way around some of the positions. Whichever stage in your yoga journey you are, there’s an essential pose – a really crucial one – that you need to learn, that truly focuses you training.
Look at these yoga positions for beginners, intermediate learners and advanced learners and see how these help you.
If you are just starting out in yoga, the tree pose is basic, essential learning. The tree pose is the one legged pose where you stand erect on just one leg, fold the other, and place the foot at the top of your thigh. The tree pose, even if it is the most basic of yoga positions, is difficult to master. The balance and body awareness required to stand steadily on one leg can be enormous and can take a great deal of time to master.
The tree pose is called that for a reason. To help your body gain that sort of balance, you’re supposed to visualize being a tree putting down roots out of the bottom of your foot. Calmly gazing with concentration on a spot right in front of you, and staying calm, strong and relaxed while you do this, should help your body learn to balance itself.
Each time you take up this pose, you’re supposed to hold it for a full minute, put both feet down, rest for a minute, and then repeat on the other side. When you first try to learn this position, you really are allowed to do it with a little bit of support. Standing against a wall would be great.
The downward facing dog is one of the key yoga positions for intermediate learners. If you wish to prepare yourself for more advanced yoga positions, this one should be considered mandatory training. Starting out, you need to get down on all fours with the palms of your hands a foot in front of your head.
The trick now is to raise your hips and knees together so that your body forms a perfect upside-down V shape. The trick is to strengthen your body up in the smoothest way possible. To come off the pose, you need to reverse everything you did.
Once you’re ready, you need to put pressure on the palms of the hands, tense up your shoulders, rotate your upper arms and then get ready to take off.
These yoga positions aren’t the most difficult ones; but they’ll certainly get you ready for primetime.
