About yoga

First, it’s important to know there’s a type of yoga for every type of body and need: the athletic flow of an "aerobics-style" class; the slow-paced movement of an easy-gentle class; therapeutic-based classes for the injured, high-energy classes for teens and grade-schoolers, chair yoga for the elderly; yoga for runner’s … every day creative yogis around the world find new ways to help every kind of need with yoga.

If the yoga doesn’t work for you, it’s not the yoga’s fault. You either tried a style or class inappropriate for you, or the teacher doesn’t have the necessary experience or qualifications to help you.

Ask yourself what you want to get from a yoga class. It’s easier to find the right fit of you know what it is you want. You want a hot-sweaty workout? Ashatanga, Power Yoga, strong Vinyasa and Hot/Bikram Yoga is for you. You want some gentle stretches and stress relief? You want to avoid the styles I just mentioned!

Soo ...

... Shop around. Call different studios or teachers and ask them about the kind of yoga they teach, tell them what you’re looking for. Question your teacher what her classes are like, about the type of training she has, how long she’s been teaching, etc. It’s also often best to find a teacher of your own age group! A yoga class taught by a 20-something-year-old is usually pretty different than one taught by a 50-year-old (but not necessarily!).

What do you look for in a teacher?

Make sure they’re certified through some reputable school of yoga, like the Yoga Alliance, Anusara, Iyengar, Kripalu ... This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be the right fit for you, but at least you’ll know they’ve met certain national standards.

It’s very important to find teachers who know the body and its biomechanics well. Many of the movements required by the poses will be foreign-feeling at first, and a teacher who understands how the body functions will be better able to guide you effectively. Also, if a pose is done in incorrectly, they can exacerbate physical problems and even eventually cause injury. This is especially true of the more fitness-focused yogas, such as Ashtanga, Power, hot, Bikram, and styles practiced in gyms.

The instruction: The teacher should also help you learn about the workings of your body yourself, so you can use the knowledge in everyday life. It empowers you to help yourself! We co-create our lives instead of believing we’re at its mercy.

Why?

Knowledge is power. Understanding some general functional anatomy helps us feel better in the poses, allows you to get the maximum benefits of the pose, and keeps you safe in a class.

Also, as you understand the power of good posture and the havoc that tiny little repetitive strains can create over the period of a lifetime. Yoga should inform your everyday movements and help you avoid the pain of unnecessary wear-and-tear.

It makes the mundane sacred. The more we understand our bodies and the miraculous way they work, the more we learn to respect and love it, to care for it with more wisdom and knowledge. It makes the experience of embodiment richer, sweeter.

It’s the sovereign cure for scattered brains. Multi-tasking is a very effective way of making ourselves scatter-brained. Yoga is a way to promote focus and mindfulness, keeping us present with the immediate task at hand. This helps the mind stop spinning, which is relaxing. As a result, we start to breathe more easily: Even more relaxing. It’s a tremendous relief to the modern over-taxed mind to be able to "sit" with one thing at a time and not fuss around like a toddler on steroids.

In class:

Avoid teachers who push you to "go further" into a pose, or moves more quickly than you feel comfortable. Yoga is not a sport. Like martial arts, it’s a discipline. "More" doesn’t have anything to do with "better". Note obesity levels, energy consumption and the housing market!

No pain no gain is NOT yoga. Pain is nature’s way of telling you you’re hurting yourself and you should try something else. Nothing should ever hurt in a yoga class, even if you came to class with it. At worst, the yoga shouldn’t exacerbate it. At best, it should alleviate it and even help you heal.

However, don’t confuse pain with a muscle working hard: A muscle working is a long, slow, burn and or fatigue. Pain is hot, acute, sharp and localized, usually in or near a joint. If you feel that, STOP immediately and tell your teacher. If in doubt, STOP and tell the teacher.

If a pose isn’t working for you (just doesn’t feel good, too awkward or difficult), ask the teacher to give you a modified version of it, or ask for a prop (blocks, belts, etc.). If she can’t help you, find someone who can.

Yoga should feel good, during and after the class. Even if you feel you’re working hard, the poses should leave you feeling wonderful. And there are great teachers here in the Cincinnati area that can help take you there.

Above all, remember: Yoga is not what we do, it’s how we do it.