Start a healthier life with a yoga workout for beginners

Balance of the body and mind is the key to a happy life. For there to be balance, both body and mind must be in perfect health and in harmony with each other and with nature. When there is balance in life, success automatically follows. Yoga is a holistic approach to achieve perfect balance and harmony in life through ethical living, physical exercise routines and meditation. New entrants to this ancient Indian philosophy can start with basic yoga workout for beginners that are both interesting and stimulating.

Yoga workout for beginners mainly involves learning asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing control) and dhyana (meditation). Postures are a set of physical exercises that involve all parts of the body. They stimulate and energize the bones, muscles and internal organs. Breathing control is a set of breathing exercises that involve inhaling and exhaling air so that all the cells of the body get adequate flow of oxygen. Meditation involves concentrating on something so that the mind becomes free of unwanted thoughts. These three exercises bring balance and harmony in the body and mind, and make the practitioner attain the peak of physical and spiritual health.

There are nearly 200 asanas that can be done standing, sitting, reclining, lying on the stomach and lying on the back. Many of the advanced postures require many days of practice, but the basic ones can be learned at home and can be done anywhere. It is really not necessary to join yoga classes for the basic postures, but the more advanced ones are better done with the guidance of a guru as they can be quite challenging. Here are some of the popular postures for beginners:

The literal meaning of asana, or posture, is 'seat’. More than providing just a physical exercise, they are believed to open energy channels and psychic centers of the body. They help improve blood circulation, improve the flow to oxygen to cells, strengthen bones and muscles, stimulate and energize the internal organs, and help focus the mind. When doing any asana, it is important to breathe slowly and deeply as controlled breathing is an integral and essential part of yoga. As a beginner, always start with the basic yoga workout for beginners (which you can easily find online) and graduate to more advanced postures only after you have mastered the basic postures.