All Yoga poses target different areas of the body and thus strain a particular group of muscles, ligaments, and other soft tissue structures. They may also involve a deviation from the neutral position of the body to one extreme like towards left or right, or back or front, etc. So, in the first case, where a group of muscles is strained, a counter poses that relaxes these structures should be performed following. In the second case where the body is forced into an extreme position, a gentle counter-position is to be attained to bring the body back to the neutral position.
For example, for a powerful forward bend, a gentle backward bend is suggested and for a powerful back bend, a gentle forward bend is advocated.
To begin a yoga session, follow these guidelines:
1) Know your limitations and do not push yourself too hard. Take time to master the poses.
2) Do a basic warm-up as suggested in bringing the coordination of breath with your movements.
3) Do a Sun salutation around 2 – 8 times before beginning any session.
3) Be sure to sequence the poses under the guidance of an experienced teacher and follow with appropriate counter poses.
4) Practice the poses dynamically before holding on to them.
5) Specific counter poses should be in succession to each individual pose and should be relatively simpler.
6) Ayurveda directs you to rest whenever you get out of breath, but in the practice of Yoga postures, we should rest even before that, as soon as we feel tired or certain parts of the body feel overworked or perhaps sore. We can rest in the corpse pose or the child’s pose.
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