I am quite new to Yoga and need advice

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hello dear members,

I am very glad that I discovered this forum and hope it will be certainly useful some way down the journey. Now, I would like to introduce myself! I have been to few Yoga beginner classes, intros and casual yoga couple of times but never took it too serious for it to be part of my day to day life.

The main aim I would like to achieve from practicing and adopting yoga into my daily lifestyle is to have better control over my mind (which controls me now). I have lot of situations of anxiousness, always worried, not focussed, take a beating heart before it is really needed and worry for everything and anything.

Basically, I am a very ambitions person and doing well in life, however, these problems within me is not helping me do anything to my potential or remain calm. I would be really grateful if someone in this forum guide me where to start from? I would like to start from the basics and also be consistently do yoga for ever if that will help me achieve a state of peace (which I don’t at all have at this point, mind is always worrying or wandering).

Looking forward to a helping hand of advice!
Thanks and Cheers.

#2

Hello, Your desire to do Yoga to help with control over your mind is perfect. That’s what the Yoga practices are for. It helps to work with a live, experienced teacher who has learned to not let their mind control them. If you study yoga with a teacher who is still trying to quiet their mind, you may get temporary experiences of calmness and quiet mind simply from the practice. But for long term, sustained ‘quiet mind’ and calm, a good teacher is often required.

I’d be happy to work with you. We probably don’t live near one another but SKYPE can certainly work. Check out my website. You will get a good sense of me and know intuitively if you think I can assist you. You can google ‘Shyama Yoga’ and find my website that way.

Warmly, Shyama

#3

Find a teacher you connect with. Find one who is living what they are teaching.
Find one who is well trained and continues their education. Find one who is caring and compassionate. Find one who is able to teach the completeness of yoga without placing you at risk (aligned postures, gentle breath work, meditation, nutrition, etc).

This is incredibly tough to find but that is the bar for the seeking.

#4

Hi, Hippie!

Here’s my advice, for what it’s worth. Don’t bother with a class or a yoga teacher for now. Find a good video or two, a couple of books, read them carefully, and then start doing yoga on your own, a little bit at a time. The best approach is to do it every day, for a short time at first, even ten minutes, and slowly, slowly build your practice. Try some different styles and see what you like. You really don’t need a class or a teacher unless you really want one. They can be good; they can be bad. You can learn an awful lot on your own.

Hope it helps.
YogAndy

#5

Difference of view.

The learning of something worth learning, be it math, art, music, is all enhanced by having a teacher. Can you learn these things on your own, perhaps, yes. Is it as good as or better than … perhaps. But it seems that yoga was passed from teacher to student for reasons and the transmission of the energy of lineage should not be overlooked or underestimated.

#6

Hi, Gordon,
Nice point. I don’t, however, think you’ll be getting much transmission of energy lineage from the vast majority of yoga teachers you’re likely to meet at a typical class in the vast and highly commercialized world of yoga today. If you’re looking for a guru, that’s one thing. If you’re simply learning to do downward dog, a video or a book will be as good or better than a teacher.

#7

That said, there’s certainly nothing wrong with having a teacher, if you can find a good one. My only point is that there are a lot of bad ones out there, and they can be much worse than just learning on your own, especially for beginners.

#8

I am a very ambitions person and doing well in life

This quality of yours , you need to drop first else yoga will be another point of failure. Don’t expect anything from yoga and practice it because you enjoy it. What I mean here is, don’t opt for yoga as a replacement of your stress. Yoga works wonder only if you practice it with mindfulness without results.

where to start from?

Don’t plan a lot because planning comes with expectation. Just play around with different classes and self practices and gradually you will be in a position to understand what works best for you. In these trials, you may see good and bad results both but just experience both.

#9

[QUOTE=SohamYogaStudio;87157]Just play around with different classes and self practices and gradually you will be in a position to understand what works best for you.[/QUOTE]

Hear hear!

#10

What is a “nice” point?

#11

The point you made just prior to me saying “nice point,” which I commented on. I suppose “good” point would have been conventional, but I’m a bit of a wild-man. Everything ok with you?

#12

Yes it is, thank you.

For me, neither “nice” nor “good” say much of anything about how a point has landed on someone. This would be especially true for non-conventional, wild folk.

#13

I think the phrase “good point” is pretty widely understood in the English language as meaning “I believe what you have just said is intelligent and accurate.” I’m not sure how that cannot be clear unless you are not a native speaker, in which case you’ll find it a useful new phrase. But listen, Gordon, I don’t do the whole Internet forum bickering thing; this will be my last reply to this thread. If you enjoy being angry and combative, I’m afraid you’ll have to find another sparring partner. Perhaps another yoga teacher would be a good choice. One of the many reasons I recommended to Mr. Hippie to begin by studying on his own is precisely that so many yoga teachers I’ve encountered exhibit the kind of barely repressed, passive-aggressive petulance I detect in your posts. I recommend a renewed dedication to your practice to ameliorate this, with an especial attention to the flow of your breath and any poses that might open your heart. It seems a little tight.

Wishing you the best,
YogAndy

#14

A teacher can sometimes add things, impart knowledge that a video perhaps wouldn’t, on the spot, also inspiration. Its true that yoga poses can be copied off a video but a teacher may have a wealth of experience and be able to add that little bit more when you need it. You may be able to go it alone, people do but some prefer teachers. You will have to decide which type of person you are.