How to Learn Beginner Yoga|4 Tips - a podcast by Dr. Melissa West

How to Learn Beginner Yoga

1. FIND A TEACHER THAT RESONATE WITHI cannot emphasize this enough. I love the quote, “You may be the ripest, juiciest peach and the world and some people still do not like peaches.” There are so many yoga teachers in our world and this is a great thing, because chances are if you didn’t like one there will be another that will suite your personality better.

Each yoga teacher has a different way of delivering their yoga depending on their own personality. Depending on what you need in your life right now, you can search for a yoga teacher that is embodying those qualities. Maybe you are looking for somebody who embodies a super grounded, peaceful, and centered vibe. Maybe you want somebody who radiate positivity. Maybe you are looking for somebody who is light hearted and keeps things upbeat. I promise you, whatever you are looking for, there is a yoga teacher out there with that personality.Additionally, you might have particular health challenges. No matter what we are going through in our lives, we are not alone. No matter how perfect you think yoga teachers are, I guarantee you they are not. We all struggle with our own mental, emotional and physical health issues as well. For example, because I have experienced chronic migraines for years, I tend to attract a lot of students who also have migraines. I think my students appreciate having a yoga instructor who understands what it is like to live through that experience and has empathy and compassion for what you are going through as well.

2. FIND A TEACHER THAT OFFERS AN APPROACH THAT YOU RESONATE WITHEach teacher offers a slightly different approach to yoga. Some teachers are super anatomy driven and keep their teaching focused on the physical body. Other teachers are super jived about the energetic body and focus in more on the subtle body. Some teachers focus on the philosophy of yoga, the emotions and or the spiritual aspects. You get the point. There is no right or wrong or better best. You can choose the teacher that resonates most with you at this time in your life.

If your mind and emotions are on overdrive and overwhelm it will be good to choose a teacher who has some training in mindfulness. If your main objective is to get in better shape physically, then choose a yoga teacher who is going to whip you into shape physically. If you are anxious, then it is important to choose a yoga instructor who understands how to move stress hormones through your body with movement.3. FIND A YOGA INSTRUCTOR THAT OFFERS A BALANCE IN THEIR APPROACH

What I mean by that is you want an approach in the styles of yoga that you are going to be offered. Just as you cannot be awake all the time, you can also not be asleep all the time either. In other words you need a balance between styles that are going to activate your energy and also calm your energy. We need to balance our yoga practice between more yang active styles which are going to strengthen our body, build endurance, and energy with movement and more yin styles which will nourish, replenish and restore our body; styles like yin yoga, restorative yoga and yoga nidra, also known as sleep yoga.4. MAKE SURE YOUR INSTRUCTOR UNDERSTANDS BEGINNER STUDENTS

There is a saying that I love. It goes like this: “Your yoga instructor should be a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage.” That is they should actually be teaching you yoga, not performing yoga for you to watch. When you click on a beginner yoga video on youtube, just check and make sure it is a yoga class that you can actually do with lots of options and modifications.Thanks so much for watching. I appreciate you. I would love the opportunity to teach you yoga. Remember you can go to melissawest.com/begin to start with me. Let me know how your yoga journey goes.

Namaste, MelissaSign Up for 30 Day Beginner Yoga Challenge: https://melissawest.com/begin/

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