Helpful Information
Things to know for your first few Yoga Classes:
Here are just a few tips and things to remember if you are in your first few yoga classes, or have just started back after some time off. These tips should help you enjoy your experience even more!
- Have a towel and water handy. The room is heated and you will be moving around, so you’re bound to sweat. If you’re prone to sweating a lot, bring two towels. Also, keep your towel and water handy and right by your mat. This will make it easier to get to it when you need it, and it keeps your belongings by your mat.
- As the room will be heated, you may find yourself getting a little bit dizzy or if you’ve eaten before your practice, your stomach might feel a little funny. Don’t worry! Yoga is meant to massage your internal organs as well as build strength and flexibility, so it’s normal to feel a little queasy in your first few classes as your body gets used to it. The best thing to do is drink lots of water and if you feel dizzy, stay on your mat and come into Child’s Pose. The teacher can show you what that looks like if you’re not sure.
- If you feel like you need to stop, take Child’s Pose. Don’t sit against the wall and watch the class, as that’s distracting to the other students.
- If you feel you have to leave the room to get fresh air, do so quietly! Plan on returning if you can after a few minutes, even if it’s just to take Child’s Pose. Understand that yoga is a group experience as well as an individual one, and if you leave, others may be just as uncomfortable as you and may want to leave also. Sometimes all it takes is for one person to leave and then everyone else feels like they should give up also. Certainly if you have to step out, do, but do it with discretion and with compassion for the other students as well as yourself.
- Line your mats up with the other students and put all personal belongings in the storage area or in the back of the room. Yoga is best done in a clean environment with no distractions. You won’t need your keys, cell phone or wallet while you practice so you shouldn’t have it near your mat. Also, the room should be free of all personal belongings during practice to allow us to focus on the moment and the present.
- If you have questions, please hold them until the end. Asking questions or talking out loud during practice is distracting to the other students.
- As you break to drink water or towel off, try to stay in the present moment and do so quietly and in a way that it’s not distracting to other students. The Power Yoga Vinyasa flow is meant to be a constant flowing practice and the more you stop, the less benefit you will get. Certainly, you will need to towel off, but do so quickly and try to stay in your breath so you can be in the flow and return to it without losing a connection to the present.
- If you need to go to the bathroom, feel free to quietly step out and do so. It’s best to empty your bladder before class so you don’t need to stop your practice.
- Every Power Yoga Vinyasa Class begins with “three Ohms.” OHM is a sacred sound and its way to connect the whole body of the class together. In the beginning of class, the teacher will call for “3 deep Ohms.” It’s customary to join in with the others as way to set your mind, join in the group aspect of the practice and connect to the present. Class ends with 3 ohms and the word “Namaste” which is a way for each one of us to bow to our spirits.
- Remember to breathe in and out through your nose during practice. This is called “ujjayi” breath and it will warm you up from the ‘inside out.’ If you hold your breath and try to muscle through the practice, you’re sure to crash. Just try to breathe through the difficult poses and you’ll find the more you breath, the more open you feel.
- Unless it is absolutely necessary, please do not leave class before it’s over. If you forgot an appointment, or just decide you don’t want to continue, it’s disrespectful to the other students to leave mid-class. Please stay until the end, unless there is a physical reason why you feel you can’t. Even to just modify poses, or stay in Child’s pose is better than leaving the class entirely.
- Be patient with yourself. The journey of yoga starts with a first step and you’ve already taken that! Congratulations!
- Remember that yoga is more than just the poses. These other guidelines are meant to be incorporated into your practice to allow you to build “right mind” both while practicing and while experiencing other things on the mat as well.
RECOMMENDED READING
The following list is a personal list of books that have helped in my training as a teacher and overall in Life:
Journey Into Power and 40 Days to Personal Revolution - Baron Baptiste
These two books are written by my teacher, Baron Baptiste. They are both manuals about the Baptiste Style of yoga, as well as provide guidelines to healthy living, meditation, diet and overall well-being. They are both excellent.
7 Spiritual Laws of Success - Deepak Chopra
This is a must read for everyone, regardless of their involvement in yoga. It provides you with a short list of “living guidelines” focused on helping you stay focused on the things that matter in life and letting go of those things over which you have no control. It provides you with a spiritual but also practical framework for living that you’ll read several times.
The Bhagavad Gita - Stephen Mitchell translation
This is an ancient text that has been adapted beautifully by Stephen Mitchell. It tells the story of a warrior who is lamenting over the potential loss of life and destruction to be caused when he leads his army into battle. He begins to ask his charioteer questions about life, and as it turns out, his companion is Krishna (god incarnate). He begins to share with Arjuna a story about living life to the fullest, without attachment to results and shows him how he can begin to live this way. It is truly one of the classical yoga texts.
Other Great Books:
Light on Yoga Sutras
Siddartha
The Power of Now
Anatomy of the Spirit
The Anatomy Coloring Book
The Tao de Ching
Return to Love
Journey to the Heart