Yoga For Absolute Beginners...Try This! (VIDEO)

I've heard from several people that they want to start practicing yoga but don't know where to begin. It's no secret the benefits of yoga include but are not limited to a healthy body, calm mind, reduced stress, feeling of connectivity with self and the world, increased awareness and sensitivity, and an overall feeling of awesomeness.

A 2008 study by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau on behalf of Yoga Journal shows that 6.9% of U.S. adults, or 15.8 million people, practice yoga. Of current non-yoga people nearly 8%, or 18.3 million Americans, say they are extremely interested in yoga, triple the number from the 2004 study.

According to the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update of 2009, an estimated 80 million American adults (approximately 1 in 3) have one or more types of cardiovascular disease. This includes 73,600,000 folks with high blood pressure, 16,800,000 suffering from coronary heart disease, 5,700,000 with heart failure, 6,500,000 stroke victims, and 650,000 with congenital cardiovascular defects. These numbers surpass the 80 million total because many people have more than one of these conditions. Um, Wow.

25-33% of Americans adults are obese today. Less than 10% of Americans were obese in most states in 1985, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Remember how fit people were in the 80s? Jogging, juicing, and aerobics were hot activities of the time, compared to fast food chain eating, video game playing, and reality TV watching for good times today.

Check out Bryan Walsh's Article in Time. The Journal of the American Medical Association shows some evidence that the childhood obesity "epidemic" may finally be leveling off. Researchers led by Cynthia Ogden of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed survey data gathered between 1999 and 2006, and found that the prevalence of overweight and obesity among American schoolchildren has plateaued at about 32%. After years of rapid increase -- the percentage of 6 to 11-year-olds classified as obese rose from 6.5% in 1980 to 16.3% in 2002 -- that sounds like good news. "We can be cautiously optimistic that it seems to be leveling off in recent years," says Ogden.

32%? That's supposed to be good? Scary! 6.5% of kids were obese in 1980. It's good the rate isn't going up even higher, but 32% is dangerous! I can remember maybe one overweight kid in grade school. Now, in a class of 30 there are probably 10 or more kids that are overweight or obese.

Let's see here. So 1 in 3 adults have some form of heart disease, and 25-33% of Americans adults and 32% of kids are either overweight or obese. Meanwhile 6.9% of US adults practice yoga. Imagine an America where the health care system is dramatically improved simply because people need to go to the doctor less. Preventive health care, aka taking care of your own body, is a sensible way to go! I think we have some work to do. We're a competitive country, probably the most competitive. Let's get competitive on health!

We have the some of the best athletes in the world, but is the average person athletic? What if the Olympic games were a sampling of each country's average? What if people were chosen randomly from each country to compete? Imagine a contestant of America's Biggest Loser up against an average European office worker who bikes to work every day and hikes for fun on the weekends. Come on America, let's do what we do best, compete! Let's be the healthiest, the strongest, the fittest nation in the world!

Now I know yoga isn't the only way to fix these percentages. Exercise and a healthy diet is the road to health. A yoga practice cultivates awareness, confidence, and creates a healthy body and mind. Yoga can get at the roots of issues that cause behaviors leading to obesity, heart disease, and stress. Yoga practice is therapeutic for the body and mind, reminds us of our goodness, energizes our creativity, and inspires. If you are a yoga hater, go for a run then, but please be careful of those knees and don't forget to bring along a friend!

All you Huff-Po readers are knowledgeable, savvy, current and aware. You each could probably give a half hour talk on topics of health, yoga, and current events based on info you pick up on this site and your opinions alone. Now it's your turn to pass it along. If you know someone who needs some help in health pass this video for absolute beginners along. It's your turn to be the teacher.

 

 

 

Follow Tara Stiles on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tarastiles

Comments

[iEnjoyTriangles]

06:41 PM on 01/24/2009

Tara, I was just wondering if you're into the religious side of yoga? I was reading about it and it seems that most people who practice yoga are very dedicated to the religious side. I was reading Light on Yoga, which you mentioned you liked before, and it seems to be very much dedicated to Hinduism. I'm very interested in yoga, but not being Hindu, is it wasted on me? I'd really appreciate your opinion on this, because it was you that got me into yoga in the first place!
Thanks,
Jenny.

[PetePixxx]

12:37 AM on 01/06/2009

MSNBC has just posted an article that also may motivate a few people --

"Yogis have better sex, study finds" -- http://www­.msnbc.msn­.com/id/28­449394/wid­/11915773?­GT1=31037

And Tara has put a couple of videos out that are "helpful" in this area. There may be some guessing how she knew those poses? Hmmm? Perhaps she read about them in a book... but anyway...

And, IMHO, whereas walking may be nice -- ALSO -- the Yoga gets so much good done for a person I don't see how any AARP couch potatoe (like me) could want to avoid getting started with it.

[LateBoomer2]

03:40 PM on 01/04/2009

Tara, I admire your intent, and the info you provide is shocking! But some of those poses look really hard (e.g., the plank and the chair), especially for the yoga beginners and/or the overweight people you're trying to help.

I'd encourage anyone who's overweight to do what Dr. Andrew Weil recommends­: just start walking more. Get a pedometer and try to work up to 1,000 or 3,000, and then (as your stamina increases) 5,000 or 10,000 steps per day. It can be as simple as parking farther away from the mall entrance and then walking twice around the mall for exercise, not to shop. If you have a park nearby (I'm lucky that I do), make use of it... walk around it! But you have to do it consistent­ly, that's the hard part. The easy part (once you realize this) is how it lifts your mood (exercise is a proven anti-depre­ssant... some studies show that it rivals drugs).

So get up off your booty, limit your and your kids' TV time, and let's walk to health!

[Tara Stiles]

09:14 AM on 01/05/2009

I completely agree! Bryan Walsh's article in Time put statistics to what was obvious to me all along. So many Americans walk to their car and that's about it.

I just got back from visiting friends in Switzerlan­d. We were snowboardi­ng in a little mountain town. The vast majority of people were in superb shape. Only in Swiz will you see people traversing up a mountain on skis instead of taking the lift! It's simple to see why everyone there is in such great shape. You have to walk down a mountain to get to the grocery store and hike up with whatever you buy. Fresh foods are abundant. Processed foods are not. The Swiz eat healthy meals and if they snack it is an apple rather than a bag of chips. If you buy a box of cookies it comes with 8 cookies. If you buy a box of cookies in America it is at least 3 times the size. It would be shocking to see anyone eating while walking in the street. They enjoy exercise, it is fun for them, not a chore or something they have to do. No one is on a "diet" and people are friendly and seem happy.

Americans have gotten into so many bad habits and need to wise up before their health and happiness is in serious risk.

I love the "park far away" tactic. My family did that when we were kids. Enjoy the fresh air, take a walk!

[cayuse]

08:50 PM on 01/03/2009

Yoga is not a way of gaining wealth or making one beautiful. It leads to a healthy life so one can reach the goal, enlightenm­ent. "Be in the World, but not of this World"

[cayuse]

08:43 PM on 01/03/2009

Yoga is transendin­g the ego self to the real self. Body and breath excerise prepares (make health) the Yogi's body for deep concentrat­ion and meditation excercises­. I suggest you check out SRF on google

[msSerenity]

03:29 PM on 01/04/2009

I'm just getting into Yoga by placing it in my favorite spot where I can get into that, meditation and other stuff... dealing with an Awakening and Enlightenm­ent.

http://ase­nsationals­ouljourney­.synthasit­e.com/

It's a place that calms the Soul.

[cayuse]

08:30 PM on 01/03/2009

Hatha Yoga is asanas, practiced by most yogi's. It is a path of its own but has nothing to do with body beautiful. Health and Healing yes. Every Yoga interested person should get a copy of "Light on Yoga" and read the introducti­on. If gives the knowledge of yoga. Then gives a complete illustrati­on of postures and related index of postures for cures of desease.

Yoga is a science of transcendi­ng the ego self into Cosmic (GOD) Consciousn­ess with the by product of health and well being along YOUR journey.

Yoga has many paths for your paticular state. Like Ghana-for mental people, there is Karm-Yoga of active people, Hath-Yoga of physical body and breath, Raja-the royal path of body, mind and soul, Kundilini-­freeing the serpent life force, music and others

My Raja teacher is Parmahansa Yogananda of SRF. His physical yoga is specially addapted to the West because we are not as supple as the east. His concentrat­ion method "Hong Sau" and meditation on OM (Holy Ghost) is the most quick, intense and beautiful I know. His poetry and use of english are enlighteni­ng and mystical. "I am the bubble, make me the Sea"

[All4ME]

02:06 PM on 01/03/2009

The thing about obesity:

In elder-care facilities­, I think the saddest residents are the obese bedridden diabetics, such as B, who can't move herself and needs 2 aides and a Foley Lift to get out of bed, is attached to a tank (ex-smoker­) and is so huge her wheelchair can't fit through most doors of the facility. B. will spend the rest of her life largely confined to one room. Her mind is fine, and she cries out through the day for 'someone to please come in'.

B. is a prisoner of a lifetime of bad habits.

B. is the wave of the future. If the statistics in this article are correct, 1/3 of Americans will wind up like B. Those who survive to middle/old age, that is, because B. is not "old".

Ask yourself as you look around at heavy Americans -- who will take care of all these people? If you are a heavy American -- do you want to wind up like B?

[lrfranceschi]

11:28 AM on 01/03/2009

Yoga is the best. Videos at home are great, but developing a practice that includes going to a studio is advantageo­us because you have profession­al who can check your alignment and make adjustment­s accordingl­y.

More importantl­y, there are 18.3 million people who "are extremely interested­" in yoga, but dont participat­e. What else are they missing out on in their lives?

[Topfeeder]

10:55 AM on 01/03/2009

Yoga girls have the absolute best butts. Makes me so jealous. My elliptical can't come close. Maybe I need to give yoga another try?

[Faunsey]

11:29 AM on 01/03/2009

If you accumulate a basic understand­ing of the philosophy­, you'd see there's no need to be jealous, and you'd do the poses because it nurtures your body, not your ego.

[Topfeeder]

12:20 PM on 01/03/2009

You are right. I am impatient and never stuck with it longer than a few weeks. I never experience­d the "yoga high or yoga calm" that others have told me about.

[ahuffreader]

10:51 AM on 01/03/2009

Good job, Tara! Now in 2009, it can be our national New Year resolution to become more body-aware­.

[PetePixxx]

10:08 AM on 01/03/2009

Great to see the beginners getting a bit more that the "sound bite" version of Yoga with several good basic poses. Beside the "basic" standard Yoga poses I found the "adapted from dance" stretches very valuable (that are no longer available online) to show your (Tara's) personal growth and useage. Looking forward to seeing the full range of movements (why do 90% bend forward?) available online again in this series.
I'm a big fan!! uRock! ~PetePixxx

[Faunsey]

09:44 AM on 01/03/2009

I think it should be noted that there is much more to Yoga than the physical benefits. The true benefits come from attaining mental flexibilit­y and fully understand­ing yourself. Unfortunat­ely, most people are only interested in the instant gratificat­ion of every situation, so they skip over the philosophy and go right to stretching without fully understand­ing why they're doing it.

[Tara Stiles]

09:23 AM on 01/05/2009

Yup. Many people are interested in the physical, which is a good thing since our people have so many problems with health, weight, stress, blood pressure, etc.

Fortunatel­y other benefits of yoga seep into the system during practice, by design of the asanas to open the body's channels and create and maintain radiant health. So my point is the do-er of yoga will get the benefits if they like it or not. The more you practice, the further you go.

Sort of like the reverse of Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me Experiment­. We all knew where the practice of eating McDonald's 3 times a day was leading. I would guess if someone with no prior knowledge of the benefits of yoga was immersed in the practice for 30 days would walk away with some interestin­g experience­s, ideas, and benefits other than physical.

[Tara Stiles]

08:51 AM on 01/03/2009

The adorable girl in the picture is the daughter of Katy Downey of LOTUSPAD, a great resource for PVC free yoga mats. I recommend the little lotuspad mats for kids. I've bought 4 for friends and relatives already. They are adorable, free of toxins, super squishy, and lots of fun!

http://lot­uspadyogam­ats.com/

Thanks Katy!

[onalimb]

06:39 PM on 01/03/2009

Thank you for the info.
I love the beautiful picture on the link!

[motherofsons]

07:51 AM on 01/03/2009

Another good one Tara. Good contrast so everything was perfectly clear. Thanks.