Yoga for Beginners offers a substantial overview for anyone considering taking up yoga. The information in this book is intended to provide the necessary information for the reader so that he or she can become informed when pursuing yoga training. This book presents yoga in manner that is balanced, neither glorifying nor understating its proven and potential benefits.
Chapter 1 provides a brief but insightful perspective on why achieving a lasting sense of being and happiness is so problematic in today's society, explaining how society shapes us to focus outside ourselves for a sense of satisfaction and how yoga can reverse this conditioning.
Chapter 2 covers a brief overview of some of the more popular yoga forms practiced in the west and their distinguishing qualities.
Chapter 3 offers a thoughtful explanation to the benefits of yoga, both substantiated and unsubstantiated.
Chapter 4 describes 20 poses for the beginner to try. Most of the poses are at the beginner level, though a few more challenging poses are included.
Chapter 5 offers helpful suggestions on what to consider when pursing formal yoga instructions.
There is a form of ancient practice from India, dating back to the fifth or sixth B.C., and it has withstood the test of time. It has not only withstood it, it has proliferated, spreading around the globe.
It is taught by both spiritual masters and health club instructors; it is practiced by both devotees and armatures alike, and it is being studied by researchers from top universities. The practice that I speak about is Yoga.
This book offers an overview of yoga for beginners and is intended to be the first step toward learning a practice that can change your life for the better.
Happiness and wellbeing is ultimate desire of every human being, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, or social status. Since we were infants, most of us learned from our parents, and later society, to look outside ourselves to experience that sense of happiness.
Be it living up to the expectations of our families or society, working hard, wearing the latest fashions, or attempting to gain the approval of others, most of our efforts for achieving happiness are directed to someone or something outside ourselves.
Yoga is a practice for redirecting our awareness to the mind and body in a way that brings greater alignment between the mind and body. The benefits of this increased awareness and alignment are innumerable and are explained in Chapter 3.