Healing Space | 10 things to know before you start your yoga practice

Be patient with your body. Allow it to show you what it needs, what you have neglected to see thus far. (Illustration by Suneesh K.)

Note to readers: Healing Space is a weekly series that helps you dive into your mental health and take charge of your wellbeing through practical DIY self-care methods.

You’re drafting those new year’s resolutions again, aren’t you? Fitness and health is top of the list again, isn’t it? This is the year, no really, it is, that you’re going to keep those fitness goals front and centre, right? You’ve already booked the yoga class and you’re convinced if you go three times a week just like that magazine article said, you should be healthy, right? I mean, it can’t be worse than not doing anything.

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A lot of people opt for yoga for various reasons of convenience that range from: it looks quite doable, all you need is a mat, if you don’t have to leave home for it you may actually stick to it, there are trainers online and who pay home visits, you did it in your childhood, you can get away with a light workout (or so you imagine), etc. Which are all excellent reasons in themselves.

If you really want to optimise your health (and your expensive personal trainer), here are 10 things to keep in mind.

1. If you need a rule, have only one unbreakable one: Be on the mat every day. Same time, same place. When travelling, carry your mat with you. Unless you’re really unwell or otherwise indisposed, make this the one rule you never break, rainy day or sunshine, mood or no mood.

Also read: 101 guide on how to buy a perfect yoga mat

2. Every day's practice is different. Start with beginner's mind. Start afresh each day. Don’t prejudge your practice. Don’t think you can or you can’t. Don’t assume that because yesterday was hard work, today will be the same, and if you’ve conquered an asana, tomorrow will be a breeze. The muscles, moods, mind are dynamic and change from day to day, hour to hour even. It’s based on what you ate or drank yesterday, how well you slept, how distracted you are and a hundred other things. See how you go as you go.

3. Practice only the part of the asana you are currently engaged in. Don't think about the whole series and how far you have to get as you do each asana, don’t even think about the whole asana. All you have to do right now is inhale/exhale and take this one step. Do only what you need to do. This fixes the mind in the present. Tether the mind.

Also read: Healing Space | How the gaze in yoga can help to achieve life goals

4. You only think you know how to breathe until you start practising yoga. After all, you’ve been doing it all your life. How hard can it be, right? Then, you realise your body is completely out of sync with your breath. And you see that that is the source of a lot of your exhausation and running to keep up. Now you have to re-learn how to breathe. If you don't get this fundamental right, the rest of yoga will not follow. In fact, it will be a constant struggle. First, get the breathing right.

5. If you listen to your body, it reveals its (so many) weaknesses. Be patient with it. Be gentle with it. Allow it to show you what it needs, what you have neglected to see thus far. Perhaps you will find that you put more pressure to one side. Your left knee works better than your right. Your shoulder is sore. Your thigh is stubborn and feels dull and heavy. Your limbs don't obey you. Your mood determines your lightness and concentration. This is when you think you are healthy and don't even have any specific diagnosed condition. You will be humbled before your body and your (lack of) relationship to it.

6. Give yourself what you need. Nutrition. Sleep. Protein. Hot baths. Cold dips. Warmth. Coconut water. There is no yoga without changing your lifestyle. You cannot move, show up, wake up, will the body, concentrate, breathe, without the whole of your energetic discipline participating. What you eat, drink, what time you sleep, what input goes into your body and mind, will change how you sit, listen, move, read, understand, socialise. When one cold sets you back a week, you will start drinking warm water and wearing comfortable clothes, and stay home instead of go out drinking. You are putting so much effort into the progression of the asanas that anything that detracts from it becomes not worth it. Yoga is not a lifestyle. It's not even a health choice. It is moving your life forward in a unified fashion. All parts must move together, or you will stall down the road.

7. Dead energy spots and accumulated energy spots are a thing. Recognise their existence through the resistance you feel in your body. They feel stubborn and reluctant, or like a void, like you cannot will them along to do your bidding. They feel tired and exhausted and painful. All those feelings you’ve been pushing into your body all these years are there, lurking under the skin. As you work on them, on the asanas, they release through tears and sweat.

8. Hot baths before yoga release your muscles. They will prevent muscle twists and aches to a large extent if you use water that’s mildly hotter than comfortable (don’t scald yourself). You will need one after too, but before gets you ready for the asana practice. That is when yoga moves from exercise to a sadhna.

9. When one part of the body is not doing the work it needs to do, its work transfers to another part that then carries an unfair load. This is the source of strain. When you understand this, you will stop ‘skipping’ bits of the asana. Like when your leg is bent instead of being as straight as it needs to be, the weight is shifted to your back, which then develops an ache. When you see the value of each part doing its bit, you invest a few moments more to get it to work optimally. You stop ‘cheating’ at the steps.

10. There is no certification you need to chase. There is no medal, award, or muscle structure to show off. Often, showing up to the mat every day will go unnoticed. Perhaps it will be years before you reach your optimal weight, and soon you will stop weighing yourself every day. What will motivate you is your own reason for showing up every day: how it makes you feel. How you feel in and move in your own skin and how you feel when you are not able to be on the mat are the only two reasons to keep going. When you’re there, yoga has seeped into your life and become part of how you see the world and your role in it.