Embarking on a yoga journey can be both exciting and overwhelming for beginners. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the essential preparations. Let’s explore how to ease into this transformative practice with confidence and mindfulness.
Yoga 101 – What is Yoga?
Originated in ancient India, Yoga is a physical, mental, spiritual practice that involves a combination of physical postures, breathing techniques and meditation. Through this exercise, people can increase strength, flexibility as well as promote relaxation.
Unfolding on the Mat: A Yoga Journey Begins
Not only about physical health, yoga has also been known to support mental health by improving concentration, finding inner peace and enhancing spiritual growth. According to a study of Karen M. Mustian and partners, yoga is also used in treating sleep problems for cancer patients. Various common types of yoga that appear around the world can be mentioned are: Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Bikram,… and of course, each type has its own approach and practices that are all together towards the ultimate destination of yoga.
Have you ever intended to join yoga? Or have you ever inquired about how to start? Don’t be worried! In this blog today, we will figure out some practical tips that will make your beginning of yoga journey perfect!
Essential Equipment
Starting your yoga journey can be overwhelming with so many equipment options available. Let’s explore the must-have items to help you achieve comfort and alignment in your yoga routines.
Yoga Mat
First and foremost, a yoga mat is an indispensable thing when you start to do yoga. As a type of specially fabricated mats which is mainly made of PVC, rubber or cork, yoga mat provides a non-slip and cushioned surface that supports people in doing exercises.
To be more detailed, PVC mats offer excellent grip and durability, but their environmental impact is quite significant. Rubber mats are eco-friendlier, but they tend to be heavy, while cork mats are lighter and offer exceptional grip.
Finding Your Perfect Yoga Mat
The most critical factor to consider when choosing a mat should be thickness. The thickness of a mat will determine how comfortable it feels under your feet, hands, and back, especially during poses that require you to balance your weight on your hands or knees.
Most mats are usually around 3-5mm thickness, but you can also find some thicker ones that range from 8-10mm. If you have sensitive joints or body parts, then thicker mats would offer higher levels of comfort and support.
Moreover, the design and style of the mat should match your preference and style. A mat of the right color or pattern and alignment can help to motivate and encourage you to practice more regularly on your yoga journey. Check out our new yoga mat collection for various designs and patterns, that will not upset you at all!
Clothing
Second point and equally important, clothing has a significant effect on the yoga journey. As there are many types of yoga that have been mentioned above, we need to choose suitable clothing for each of them, such as hot yoga, requiring clothing that is designed specifically for the high heat and humidity of the practice and restorative yoga, may call for looser, more relaxed clothing.
Moreover, as yoga involves a lot of flexible movements that require stretching, sitting and lying down for a period of time, your clothing needs to be comfortable. It would be better to choose fabrics such as spandex, nylon or polyester,… to be soft and non-irritating for your skin, and don’t forget to and avoid clothing that is too tight or restrictive.
Also, similar to other exercises, yoga can be a very sweaty practice, and clothing that traps in heat and moisture can be uncomfortable that sometimes even lead to a health risk, so breathability is also an important feature that you need to consider.
To take the most advantage from doing yoga, let’s choose fabrics that allow your skin to breathe, such as cotton or moisture-wicking materials. Meet Hank’s tank top collection will make your yoga exercises the most comfortable and full of passion with various designs!
Other Yoga Accessories
- Blocks: One of the most common yoga accessories can be mentioned is blocks. Oftenly, they are rectangular shaped blocks made from a dense foam, and used for yogis to stabilize and adjust their poses. The key criteria when choosing blocks is that it must suit your specific fitness needs. To be more detailed, it needs to be wide enough to make reaching it on your mat easy during your poses, and it also needs to be big enough to support your body weight. Anyway, it can’t be too big since it will make your poses more difficult.
- Straps: A yoga strap is a woven length of soft cotton that measures 1.8m by 40mm that supports people in your asana practice with flexibility increasing, better alignment and deeper stretch. Experts also suggest that the straps should be made of 100% recycled polyester fabric or cotton with a handy metal loop for being best used as an aid in your asanas.
- Wheels, sandbags, and more: A yoga wheel is a circular prop that is typically made of sturdy foam or hard plastic, with a diameter of about 12 to 15 inches. It is used to improve flexibility, balance, and strength in yoga poses. The wheel can be used to support the back, stretch the hips and shoulders, and even help with inversions such as headstands and forearm stands. On the other hand, sandbags are small bags filled with sand that are used to add weight and pressure to various yoga poses. Sandbags come in different weights and sizes, and they can be placed on various parts of the body to increase the intensity of the stretch or to help with relaxation. They can also be used to ground and stabilize the body in poses such as the pigeon pose and seated forward folds.
The Right Yoga Clothes for Every Practice
These accessories can be valuable companions on your yoga journey, helping you to deepen your practice, improve your flexibility, and achieve greater alignment.
Yoga Props to Enhance Your Journey
Yoga is for the mind
According to Sadhguru, the founder and head of the Isha Foundation: “The whole process of yoga is to transcend the limitations of the mind.” With yoga, people learn to focus on the present moment, as well as cultivate mindfulness. They can also develop a greater sense of self-awareness and self-acceptance.
Overall, it can’t be denied that yoga is a kind of nutritious food for human’s mind, which not only helps them to find peace in every aspect of life, but also motivates them to grow more in the future. Embarking on a yoga journey, you can also combine spending time with your pets or taking care of yourself on both physical and mental sides to keep a more relaxing mind. To have more interesting and useful tips, don’t forget to follow Meet Hank and wait for our blogs!
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