Creating your own yogaprogram

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I’m having trouble finding a video/dvd that fits me. Most of the videos I found demands strength that I don’t have and even if I use modified versions of the poses it’s just too much for me. I have very weak shoulders and back, and quite a lot of pain, which I’m of course work on improving (I do pilates twice a week to strengthen my upper body). I found some dvd:s on american sites that seem interesting, but it feels a little risky ordering from the other side of the Atlantic since I can’t know for sure that it fits me. Almost all yoga videos I find here are quite tough ashtanga yoga videos, and I’m more interested in the balance and flexibility than the strength, so to speak.

The yoga class I attend to has a very attentive teacher that has given me other (prepotory) poses when I can’t go along with the rest of the class. This is somehow hard to do when I do yoga at home, since I’m not yet good enough to know which pose I should replace one that’s to difficult with.

However… I have found a number of poses that I feel has very good effect on me when it comes to my flexibility and balance, poses that I have learned in class so I know I do them right. Is it at bad idea to take these poses and compose a program? It would be a program that doesn’t involve a lot of strength or difficult poses since I prefer to do those under my instructors watchful eyes, it’s mainly flex, stability and balance poses.

Has anyone of you put together a yoga program of your own? What should I think about?

Of course, I will run this by my yoga instructor, but the class isn’t until monday and I wish to have at least a rough idea of what I want out of my program.

:slight_smile:

/Jenny

#2

Dear Jenny,
Have you considered having a private yoga therapy session to assist you in creating a personalized sadhana? You didn’t mentioned where you are located, but there are certified Structural Yoga Therapists all around the USA. This is Mukunda Stile’s program and is the program that I graduated from.
Rather than leave a lengthy post here, I’ve included his website that details what Structural Yoga Therapy is and lists the many certified SYT therapists by state. You are also welcome to private message me here if you’d like to talk with me about this.

Mukunda’s website: Yogatherapycenter.org : : Welcome

With love,
Nichole

#3

Hi!

I’m actually located in Sweden. :wink: I’ll take a look at the web site and then you can count on a message from me! :smiley:

/Jenny

#4

Sunflower,

Creating your own practice is probably not the best approach, since you need to have a good level of understanding of yoga to know what muscles / joints each pose addresses, and the counterpose (a complementary pose) for each.

The preferred method to learn yoga is in a studio witha highly qualified and experienced teacher (which you enjoy practicing with). But obviously that may not be available in your area.

If you really want to improve your strength, flexibility and health but can’t get to a good class every day, then practicing at home is a good alternative. To help you, you can use videos/dvds.

But why buy a video when you can get access to a whole library or achrive of yoga instruction videos that you can watch and follow online. (they’re streamed over the internet). You’ll be able to find at least one video that is good for your abilities. The more videos you follow, the more postures you can practice. The more postures you practice, the more health benefits you get.

Look for www.totalyogapractice.com, they have a beginner and more advanced instruction so you can change as your abilities increase.

I hope this helps

#5

“know yourself”

On the other hand, I think there is also potentially great value inherent in being in silence alone with one’s own body. One can deepen trust levels within these two areas, in a self-designed yoga practice:

  1. your body’s reaction to what your mind is telling it to do, and
  2. your mind’s comfort level with listening to the messages your body is feeding back to your conscious mind.

This is actually much more challenging than waiting for someone else to tell you what to do, while listening to engaging music. But if you can face the great unknown of the inside of yourself, you stand to reap great rewards.
Your body will express great wisdom about what is healthy and balancing for it. Guiding yourself can feel fantastic, with no distractions to throw off your groove. Eventually, your teacher-led yoga classes will feel more like the practice sessions (with new ideas to spice up your home practice) and your self-generated home practices will feel like the main event.

A cautionary note I would add here is to approach this self-created practice with the consistent intention to wash the experience in deep patience, like you would have towards a small child, towards your mind and your body.
You are giving your spirit, or higher self, the opportunity to act as a mediator between your mind and your body. Be prepared to grow spiritually with this.

#6

Thank you for the link, jezheath! I’ll check it out! :slight_smile:

Janet_Carpenter: My body is very good at telling me what I’m doing wrong and what I’m doing right. I talked to my yoga teacher yesterday and she’s going to help me set up a program that I can do at home.

#7

that sounds ideal - - if I were your yoga teacher I would be
very happy to have someone as motivated as you in my class !

#8

Thank you! :slight_smile: Of course I’m motivated when I’m after TEN YEARS of constant pain in my back and hips finally finds something that gives me strength, flexibility and balance without causing even more pain. AND! It fits so perfectly with my view of life in general. I just love yoga! :smiley: