hi can anybody please help me. i am keen to start trying yoga. ive had ago from a book i have read but you dont get the full benifet and knowing if your doing harm to yourself ethier. i am not partucally fit, i am 30 and of a small frame (8stone 2) i would like to know how to tone up and gradually build on to more yoga .Here is the interesting part and my main reason for requiring help, i had a left groin hernia repair 4 months ago (open surgery) i am still slightly sore. i am also having right groin hernia repair in 4 weeks time (keyhole). whatcan i do that will not cause me harm or damage my recovery. i really want to get active and yoga is the path i want to follow. please please help . thank you for taking the time to read this.
Hi, my name is Kathryn and I am one of Mukunda’s grad students. The joint freeing series is a great one to do (from his book. Structural Yoga Therapy, Adapting to the individual, the second edition if you can find it). If you are still sore in the groin area I would eliminate the hip internal and external rotation until it has resolved. Practice the wave breath in savasana at the end. Deep relaxation or simple restorative yoga can help you recover more quickly. As you recover you can add more slowly but gently and keep it simple. Finding an experienced teacher is a plus(look at their credentials) in that they can guide you better than any book. Take the small steps at a time and you will find yoga as an essential tool that can help you feel and cope more efficiently with life.
Hi Annette,
First of all welcome to the Forum. I would like to respond to some of the things you mention and will take them one by one.
Most people working from a book don’t get it right, because there is no one to tell you that your alignment is out or that you are doing something wrong. I would strongly suggest if you are really interested in the full benefit of yoga that you search for a teacher who can help you.
So much more reason why you need a teacher to gradually and slowly get you into the swing of yoga building your practice to assist the healing of the hernia and then to move you into asanas that will achieve the toning you seek. A teacher will also be able to inspire you to make other lifestyle changes that might benefit you even further and the goal you seek.
And this is the other interesting part, few of us can really help you here as we have so little contact with you and because we cannot see you and guide you according to what we see. This leads me again to what I have said so far, a teacher is here more important and it will be foolish of me to say do this and do that asana. I strongly recommend that you please work with a teacher for the maximum result. If yoga is really the path you want to follow, then the first thing you need to do for yourself is to find yourself a good teacher. 
Overall, if you have encountered the Pawanmuktasana series somewhere in a book, it is a safe series to do until your have fully recovered and found yourself a teacher. But please keep it gentle until you are fully healed.
Good luck with your path and I trust you will find the teacher you need.
If I understand correctly, there are two questions that you pose.
The first is about beginning a yoga practice where one previously did not exist. The second, asks about doing an asana practice in light of the current health issue - one hernia repaired, another to come.
In answering the first question I’ll respond while setting aside the second question. Developing a practice can be done in a variety of ways. Those ways include DVD’s, books, the internet, streaming video, divine intervention, and a teacher.
Refining the question such that we insert the word “appropriate” before the word “practice” will reduce the possibilities. I personally began my asana practice with several teachers in group and private settings. However I also used videos. I was, at that time, very unaware of the elements of Yoga. And I am grateful to the three teachers I chose who guided me on and off the mat and kept me safe so that I would not run roughshod through the china shop of Yoga.
I ask students to simply make a mindful decision in this regard. As long as you are aware that learning solely from a book or video may create misunderstanding, misalignment, and injury then you may choose to learn in that way. But do not choose that method to learn simply from habit or rote action. Considering it deeply makes it yoga, not doing what others believe you should or should not do. There are an infinite number of paths.
As for question two, I would not at all practice asana on my own after a surgical procedure especially if I did not have full physical clearance from my healthcare provider AND have a sound idea about what I was doing with my body.
Any belly straining would be very unwise soon after a hernia repair or soon before one. And I would not engage an asana practice near those events without the direction and contact of a highly skilled teacher.
gordon
thank you for all your advice. i will not try anything untill after my next opperation and i will try and find a teacher rather than going it alone. i will start asking around now for someone and will fully explain my situation before hand. thank you again annette
Sounds like a great plan, Annette. Several folks here have access to networks of well trained teachers (fellow members of particular traditions) – feel free to post your approximate location and travel range if you’d like to hear about possibilities in your area.