Top 30 asanas for beginners: a selection of yoga exercises

In the modern world, yoga, in most cases, is perceived exclusively as a physical discipline. The highest perfection in this type of yoga is to twist yourself into a knot on the mat, capture it in a photo and post it on social networks. This is the goal of most forms of modern yoga. In slightly more advanced forms, the goal may be a healthy spine, weight loss, or, in extreme cases, calming the nerves. But despite all this, as a rule, a person does not change his lifestyle, habits, worldview and lives the same way as he lived before. But with a healthy spine and without extra pounds. However, with the modern way of life this will not last long. Approximately this path in yoga is being promoted to the masses today, and this path is followed by the majority. If we turn to the scriptures, for example, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, we learn that asanas are only the third step of the eight-step yoga system. And before you begin to perform asanas, you should master the moral precepts and make adjustments to your lifestyle.

But asanas are just preparatory practices in order to actually do yoga in essence. Translation of “yoga citta vritti niroddha” – “yoga is a method of calming the mind.” Therefore, the goal of yoga is actually to work with our mind and achieve a state in which the various vibrations of our mind will, one way or another, be eliminated. And asanas are only the crudest tool for working with your mind, by influencing it through the physical and energetic body. How does this happen, and what is the most effective way to approach the practice of asanas?

Asanas: basic recommendations

Before you start practicing asanas, you should consider various guidelines to improve the effectiveness of your practice. First of all, you should understand that our physical body is one of our shells, and it is the grossest. We also have an energy body, on which the main impact will be made. The practice of asanas leads to an increase in energy levels, which in turn can lead to unpredictable results. For example, if there is any addiction, then this addiction can intensify until it is completely impossible to control it. On the other hand, with the help of asanas you can also get rid of this addiction. Therefore, in this case, everything is individual, and you should exercise common sense and monitor your condition so that the asanas do not do more harm than good. To increase efficiency and avoid harming yourself by practicing asanas, you should follow the following recommendations:

1. The best time to perform asanas is early in the morning. The energy around you is more positive at this time. The ideal time to practice is before sunrise. The efficiency of execution at this time increases significantly. But you shouldn’t get attached to the time of day.

2. With regular practice of asanas, it is recommended to adhere to a certain diet. First of all, meat products should be excluded, as they cause serious harm at the level of the physical body, energy body and even at the level of consciousness. It is also recommended to abstain from foods that greatly stiffen the body and greatly slow down progress in practice.

This is salt, sugar, flour, fatty, fried. It is recommended to exclude mucus-forming foods - potatoes, dairy products, baked goods. It is recommended to increase the amount of raw plant foods in the diet to 70%, this will keep the body clean and provide energy. With this diet, flexibility and stretching will improve much faster as you progress in asana practice.

3. Try to keep track of where you spend your energy. Sometimes you can notice that after practicing asanas, your bad habits begin to take hold of you even more, and if before you ate one cake, now you start eating four, you used to watch one episode of your favorite TV series before bed, and now you watch two. This happens precisely because the energy level increases, and this energy merges even more into habitual addictions. In this case, you should either reduce your practice or learn to redirect your energy to something more positive. Try to plan in advance, before practice, what you will do after practicing asanas. It is desirable that this be some kind of objectively useful matter. It’s even better if it will be useful not only to you, but also to those around you. If, after practicing asanas, you indulge in idle time and entertainment to an even greater extent than before you began to practice yoga, then there is no more sense in such a practice than trying to carry water in a sieve. Energy levels will increase, and addictions will only intensify.

4. Try to create proper motivation. If your motivation is not strong enough, your yoga practice will end after the first difficulties or a period of stagnation in it, which happens quite often. If you started doing yoga to improve your health and solve some problems with it, then think about how you can use such an effective tool as yoga when your illness goes away and your health improves. In fact, health is the least that can be achieved in yoga. The opportunities for a diligent practitioner are simply sky-high, and if you have decent motivation, you can achieve much more than just absolute health.

5. It is advisable not to shower for 1-2 hours after practice. The practice of asanas allowed you to accumulate energy, and the water will take all this energy for itself. Therefore, if there is such an opportunity, then it is better to take a shower a couple of hours after practice, and the first time after it is better to use it as efficiently as possible for some useful activities in order to effectively invest the accumulated energy.

6. Try not to stop at any one set of asanas - always bring something new into your practice. If you perform the same asanas for a long time, then most likely there will be stagnation in your development, since you will be working through the same energy channels and working with the same qualities of your personality. This will lead to the fact that some qualities will be hypertrophied, and some will not be developed at all. It is also recommended to focus your attention on performing those asanas that are the hardest. This means that there are some problems in certain energy channels and they need to be worked out first.

7. It should be noted that the practice of asanas should contain an element of asceticism. If while in the asana you feel a pleasant relaxed state, then the effect of this practice is small. It is important to understand that this is not about constantly twisting yourself into a knot and enduring hellish pain, this is also an extreme. But there should be slight discomfort (and perhaps sometimes you can afford not so slight discomfort). Because it is discomfort that allows you to work out some internal problems by influencing the physical body and clearing energy channels. In fact, any problem in our body and mind is a blockage of one or another energy channel. And in order to cleanse it and send energy through it, certain efforts must be made, which always occur through a certain feeling of discomfort.

8. To prevent the practice of asanas from taking place according to the “one step forward and two steps back” principle, it is recommended to limit the negative information and energy impact on your consciousness as much as possible. We are not talking, of course, about going into the forest and becoming a hermit - such a yoga practice will also not make sense. But stop watching TV, listen to destructive music (which is the vast majority of people now), limit communication with those people who, according to your subjective observations, negatively influence you. We are not talking about stopping communication with all friends and acquaintances, but if you see that after communicating with this or that person you feel depressed or exhausted, then most likely you are simply “feeding” him with the energy that accumulated during practice. How reasonable and beneficial this is for both of you is up to you to decide.

These are the basic recommendations, the observance of which will allow you to increase the effectiveness of your practice and not go astray when some difficulties appear, and they will certainly appear. Because development is always overcoming oneself. Only degradation can be easy and pleasant. And everyone makes their own choice about where to move. But experience shows that everything “easy and pleasant” ultimately does not lead to anything good. And those who make efforts to develop themselves begin to live more effectively both for themselves and for those around them. What prospects does the practice of asanas open to us?

Warm-up: proper body preparation

The workout will have a positive effect if you do a warm-up first.

The preparatory stage can be:

• General . Suitable for warming up the general condition of the body. During the warm-up, cardio exercises lasting from 15 to 25 minutes are used.
• Passive . The body is toned with a sauna or hot bath session. The advantage of this type of warm-up is the complete relaxation of the muscles.
• Special . The warm-up includes performing dynamic asanas.

Warm-up cannot be ignored. It allows you to avoid muscle and joint injuries during training. The risk of their tearing is minimized.

Asanas: goals and opportunities

As mentioned above, asanas are a powerful tool that can be used for both creation and destruction. And here the question arises of the purpose for which we practice. Imagine that right now they will ring your doorbell and tell you that you have somehow miraculously (without even buying a lottery ticket) won a million. Think about where you would spend it? Most often, when such “happiness” falls on a person, it makes his head spin, and he begins to behave inappropriately and commit inappropriate actions, although five minutes before the stunning news he was a completely, seemingly adequate person. The same thing can happen during yoga practice.

Asanas give a powerful boost of energy, which can be compared to suddenly winning the lottery (not an entirely adequate comparison, because in asanas we make an effort, and to win the lottery you only need to buy a ticket, but we’ll omit these details), and therefore, if you don’t If you have determined for yourself the goals with which you are practicing, then the same thing can happen as with a person who suddenly won a million - you will begin to spend inappropriately, only in this case not money, but your own energy. However, money, most likely, too. And, when you have received additional energy, all your hidden desires, addictions, passions can manifest themselves. Therefore, you should understand that asanas will allow you to accumulate energy, and you need to clearly define for yourself what you want in this life, what you are striving for, and act in this direction. What opportunities open up to those who practice asanas:

* Asanas can help you get rid of addictions. It was already said above that if there is any strong addiction, then you should be careful, as you can completely lose control over yourself. But if you, for example, have a craving for sweets, then working on hip release can help solve this problem.

* Asanas allow you to raise your energy higher. There is a simple universal way to solve problems - a problem that is created at one level can only be solved from a higher level. That is, if you have any problem manifested on one chakra or another, then you should simply raise the energy to a higher chakra. Again, for example, addiction to sweets. This is the problem of Svadhisthana chakra. Try to express yourself at least through the Manipura chakra; for this there are corresponding practices, such as various backbends and bandhas. The energy will rise, and you will surprise yourself, but you will no longer want sweets - you will have much more adequate interests.

* Asanas are a method of working out karma. Each of us, one way or another, has negative karma. And through adequate austerities, you can process this karma during practice on the mat. What are adequate asceticisms? This is an acceptable level of discomfort in a particular asana. If you get wrapped up in any asana so much that you get injured and are unable to practice for six months, then it is unlikely to do you any good, so you should exercise common sense in everything. If you regularly put effort into yourself, then negative karma will be exhausted by experiencing discomfort in asanas. And if, for example, you have the karma of getting hit by a car, then in a few months, “a teaspoon per hour,” you can exhaust the amount of pain that you, according to your karma, are destined to endure. And the situation with the car will not manifest itself or will manifest itself in the safest possible way.

* Asanas are a method of changing the world around us. In the process of practicing asanas, we change our energy, and therefore the energy around us. This is where a simple rule applies: “Change yourself, the world around you will change.” By putting effort into yourself, you will gradually change the world around you. And you yourself will not notice how life around you will become harmonious and measured. This will somehow happen by itself - relatives will begin to think about self-development, they themselves will begin to ask you about yoga and vegetarianism, at work all problems will begin to be solved by themselves, people who annoyed you will begin to either change for the better, or just go somewhere will disappear from your life, your children will suddenly stop arguing with you and doing indecent things. This will not happen right away, you shouldn’t expect results right tomorrow, but over time everything around you will begin to miraculously transform. And in a couple of years (unless, of course, you leave the path of yoga) you will see how everything around has changed.

These are the main changes that yoga can bring in your life. But in fact, there is not a single area of ​​human life that is not affected by yoga when a person begins to practice diligently. And, as mentioned above, health, which, in most cases, is considered almost the main goal of yoga, is the least benefit that you can receive in the process of practice. Imagine that you have a microscope. They, of course, can hammer nails and, probably, even very effectively. And if you stop there, you will never know that with the help of this microscope it was possible to make a scientific discovery and receive a Nobel Prize.

Types of poses

Before you start learning the basic asanas and starting to perform the very first poses, let's look at what types there are to make it easier for you to navigate and understand what to expect from the exercise.

standing

Standing poses are the most difficult for beginners; they are often done at the beginning of classes to warm up. In Vinyasa flow yoga, standing poses follow each other and are used to build ligaments. In Hatha yoga, standing poses can be found individually in combination with rest after each pose.

To balance

Developing balance is extremely important for beginners; balance poses help strengthen the core muscles, which in turn is necessary for mastering more complex poses. Despite the fact that maintaining balance will seem difficult to you at first, over time, with regular practice, you will definitely notice progress.

Bridges

Bridges can be the most uncomfortable pose for beginners, so it's common to start with a gentle arch and stretch of the spine. Because these movements are rarely encountered in everyday life, they are extremely important for the health and longevity of the spine.

sedentary

Seated poses focus on stretching the hips and hamstrings and are usually performed at the end of a class when the body is already well warmed up. Place a rolled blanket or block under your buttocks to make these positions more comfortable.

On your back, rest

It is very important to know the asanas in which you can rest, especially child's pose, which is good for taking a break during a yoga class. Reclining poses allow you to continue working the muscles and tendons of the hips, as in a sitting position, and also allow you to do backbends and twists.

Asanas: a method of fighting “larvae”

Many of modern people are in the complete illusion that their desires are only their own desires and, while satisfying them, people do not understand that they are simply being “divorced” for energy. Who is doing this? Lyarvas are subtle-material entities that feed on the so-called “gavvah” - the energy of suffering. When you go to the refrigerator for the tenth cake, know that this has nothing to do with your desires, and even more so the desires of your body, which is trying to the limit to cope with the poisons entering it. Any addicted person is a victim of such a larva.

Lyarvs are quite intelligent creatures and can mentally influence their charges, instilling in them certain thoughts, and in especially severe cases they completely subjugate the mind of their victim. An example of such a difficult case is complete drug addicts - the personality is completely absent, the person turns into a drug processing machine. Why is this larve? The fact is that the larva feeds on the energy of suffering, which is produced in the process of receiving any pleasure. Any pleasure sooner or later leads to suffering. This is how this world works, and there are no exceptions. Therefore, wanting to receive the energy of suffering, the larva mentally influences its victim, forcing it to drink beer, eat cake, play a computer game, watch TV, and so on.

Then the following happens: when a person, following the lead of the larva, eats his piece of cake, the cells of his body begin to die from such harmful and incorrect food. In the process of their death, the energy of suffering, gavvah, is produced, which the larva feeds on. In the long term, a person who eats cakes will begin to suffer himself - from caries, obesity, depression, and so on - and the larva will receive increasing amounts of gavvah. How can you avoid becoming a victim of these cute creatures? This is where yoga is most effective. How to use it in the fight against larvae? Very simple. Try sitting, for example, in Paschimottanassana. You most likely won’t be able to do it perfectly, but do it in such a way as to feel the discomfort. Do you feel it? This is exactly what the larva feels now, as it regularly “leaks” the energy from you. And, if every time the larva whispers to you the idea of ​​going and buying another cake, you do Paschimottanasana (or any other asana that causes you discomfort), this larva will very quickly leave you and find a more “accommodating” donor. This is surprising, but when the larva leaves you, the desire will disappear, like morning fog in the first rays of the sun. There is an opinion that even if you are being “milked” by a fairly serious, strong larva, it is enough to tell it a clear “no” at least seven times when it tries to persuade you to drain the energy, and the larva will leave you behind. It may take a longer confrontation, but it’s definitely worth a try. And asanas are the most effective tool in the fight against larvae.

Breathing during exercise

During yoga practice, breathing should involve the abdominal cavity. With superficial air intake, only the collarbone and chest work, which means that oxygen does not completely fill the lungs.

The initial stage allows you to master a special breathing technique that will help free your mind from unnecessary thoughts.

Breathing algorithm:

1. It is worth taking a lying or sitting position.
2. You need to pull your stomach in as much as possible, and then exhale all the air and try to relax as much as possible.
3. Take a slow breath, filling the lower abdomen with oxygen first, gradually filling the chest with air.
4. After the inhalation fills all the lungs with oxygen, you should hold your breath for a few seconds.
5. You need to exhale slowly. Consistently release the air from the chest, then the middle area of ​​the abdomen and then its lower part.
6. After this, you need to pull your stomach in and hold your breath.

During yoga classes, breathing is done through the nose.

Asanas: a tool for working wisely

What is the cause of suffering? The cause of suffering does not lie somewhere in the external world, the cause of suffering lies in our own mind. Because it is our mind that imposes certain projections on objective reality. The mind interprets, analyzes, labels “good” or “bad,” “pleasant” and “unpleasant.” And it is our mind that determines whether this or that situation will bring us suffering. Therefore, by subjugating your mind, you can get rid of suffering. And who doesn’t want to get rid of suffering? There are such?

Here we should again recall the quote from Patanjali that yoga is “a method of controlling the disturbances of the mind.” Of course, in this quote we are talking, rather, about some kind of internal, meditative practices. But in fact, even asanas are a method of working with your mind. By acting through the physical body, we can influence our mind and educate it. Try again to “wrap yourself up” in some asana that causes you discomfort, and your mind will immediately manifest itself. He will find a thousand and one reasons why he urgently needs to get up, drop everything and run to do something. Moreover, the mind can sometimes be so resourceful that it will find quite adequate and convincing arguments. Sometimes you wonder how alcohol addicts justify their addiction - this is all the work of their resourceful mind, which always strives for pleasure, and which is again affected by the larvae described above.

So, asanas are the best tool for working with your mind. When the body experiences discomfort, it allows you to “train” the mind. He finds himself in a hopeless situation, on the one hand, he cannot “fly away” and dream about something of his own while the body is in the asana, because discomfort brings him back, and on the other hand, he is forced to endure discomfort, which forces him concentrate on the moment “here and now”. It is this aspect that is preparation for the practices of concentration and meditation. While in asana, we learn to be in the moment and not “fly away” into some thoughts, dreams, and so on. Namely, such “flights” often interfere with meditation. Therefore, if you can re-educate your mind by experiencing austerities in asanas, then your daily life will change. Because controlling your mind is the way to get rid of suffering. He who subjugates his mind has conquered the whole world.

Because, as mentioned above, only our mind makes us perceive something as negative or positive, and if we destroy this illusory dichotomy into “black” and “white,” then suffering itself will cease. After all, we suffer, for example, not from the heat, but from our negative attitude towards high temperatures. And if our mind stops telling us that high temperature is bad and should be avoided, then we can calmly survive the hot summer without even paying attention to it. Or, for example, some person annoys us. But if you think about it, the world is full of imperfect people, but we don’t get angry at everyone? Thus, only our mind makes us perceive someone else's shortcomings as something annoying and traumatic. And if the mind “falls silent,” then the irritation will stop. This is how our mind works. If you subordinate him to your will, the will of your higher “I,” then he will be an obedient servant, and we will only benefit from him. And to begin the process of gaining power over your mind, you should practice asanas regularly. You have no idea how restless our mind is and how difficult it is to control it. But the one who can subjugate it will become truly omnipotent.

The benefits of yoga for humans

Yoga includes not only asanas, but also spiritual practices combined with meditation. Therefore, the benefits of exercise can be divided into several categories.

The advantages of yoga from a physiological point of view:

• The muscles of the body become elastic.
• Excess weight goes away.
• Metabolism improves.
• Yoga helps shape posture - this allows you to strengthen the supporting muscles of the spine and overcome its curvature.
• Reduces bone fragility.
• The functioning of the following systems is normalized: circulatory, lymphatic, cardiovascular, immune.
• Blood pressure levels stabilize.
• The functioning of the gastrointestinal tract improves.
• Asanas prevent the occurrence of diabetes.
• The body regulates the level of stress hormones produced.

Yoga exercises for beginners, in addition to physiological advantages, have a number of psychological advantages:

• Yoga helps fight depression or apathy.
• Increases confidence and self-esteem.
• Practice allows you to realize and accept your purpose and find new goals in life.
• It lifts your spirits, gives you vigor and enthusiasm.
• Increases contact and makes people more open.
• Allows you to increase self-control over yourself and your emotions.

Yoga should be seen as more than just a series of exercises. For beginners in this practice, this teaching should become not only a physical training for the body, but also an internal one for one’s own “I-concept”.

Energy level

If we look deeper and assume that a person is not only a physical body, then here the practice of hatha yoga appears in a completely different light.

Asanas prepare energy channels for the perception of more powerful energy flows, the movement of which in direct practice depends on the speed of performing asanas, on the degree of effort applied, on breathing and many other factors.

This is why you cannot compare the practice of asanas with any other physical activity (fitness, for example). There are many nuances that a novice practitioner still has to comprehend.

Balances

Balance asanas help to master balance and develop concentration, the need for which is undeniable for every person.

We all show signs of imbalance in our bodies from time to time, unknowingly compensating for them by swinging our legs, involuntary arm movements, slightly swaying our bodies, slouching, and others. Meanwhile, imbalances in the body disrupt the free flow of energy, causing chronic diseases.

This is why it is so important to practice balance asanas. This gives good posture, smooth movements, and self-confidence.

There are several working recommendations for this block of asanas:

• if you concentrate your gaze on one fixed point in front of you, it will be easier to maintain balance;
• if you spread your toes, your balance will be stronger;
• start with simple balances and move on to complex ones gradually.

Balances for beginners include:

• Vrikshasana;
• Garudasana;
• Ardha Chandrasan.

Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

• Get on all fours so that your wrists are directly under your shoulders and your knees are under your pelvic bones.
• As you exhale, slowly straighten your knees, moving your tailbone up.
• The back and arms tend to form one straight line, the neck is relaxed, the lower abdomen is tucked.
• Don't squeeze your shoulder blades together; the shoulders seem to tend to the front surface of the body.
• The palms are active, the fingers are pressed to the floor; the feet are parallel to each other, or the toes are turned slightly inward.
• If you are not yet flexible enough to fully perform the pose, leave your heels off the floor and your knees slightly bent.

Backbends

Backbends stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, stretch the spine and strengthen the muscles that lift the body. Also, bending asanas help relieve tension in the back and neck and open the chest.

Moreover, the degree of deflection is the main indicator of a person’s flexibility, both in the physical sense and in the sense of flexibility of the mind and psyche.

Backbends for beginners include:

• Ardha Bhujangasana;
• Shalabhasana;
• Makarasana.