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The role of mentor for your yoga practice? 

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Should you take a mentor to start your yoga practice? Of course a Big Yes… The first thing to start with your yoga practice would be your mental strength and then continuity to give 20-30 mins of time everyday.

Then, probably, we may need proper guidance on the followings:

1. Which asana to approach?
2. Which asana to avoid, why and when?
3. How to go into the posture?
4. What has to be the breathing counts and connections?
5. How much time to stay in the posture?
6. How to come out safely from the posture?
7. When to go for variations?
8. How to deepen the posture?
9. What all alignments to be focused upon?
10. Where should be the awareness?
11. Whether my posture is correct or not?
12. Which counter-pose asana we should do?
13. What should be the sequence and counts for asana practice?
14. Every day, should we do same or change the practice?

These all questions you may find on internet and books, but, the most important thing is whether you are doing correctly or not??  Then comes the need of good mentor.

 

Instagram will load in the frontend.

 

However, yoga practicing under Guru (mentor) has totally different experience.

I will share one of my experience, almost a decade ago, I started my yoga practice from watching some Channel on TV and also following few books. While practicing Trikonasana before, I was easily able to touch the ground, and I was very much sure that I was right. But, the day my guru has lifted my palms from ground and fixed it to shin (just below the knee), I was shocked. “Why, what happened, what I am doing wrong?”  Then, she asked me to keep the chest open and expanded rather collapsing to the ground. The moment, I pulled my chest up and opened it as recommendation, I realized the importance of good mentor. 

 

Corrections in the Trikonasana

triangle-pose
triangle-pose (left) wrong pose (right) correct pose

 

You might be practicing left one, and feeling correct, but, it has to be done similar to right side picture. At the same time, you cant reach to higher level of the posture without practice, it takes time. Everyone has to cross the basic and intermediate level.

How mentor will support you to go more deeper into the posture through adding variations, even if your body is not supporting to reach to that level?

 

Down ward Dog Pose - 1
Down ward Dog Pose_(Incorrect Pose)– Spine is round here, which should be kept straight and close to the thighs.

 

Down ward Dog Pose - 2
Down ward Dog Pose_(Correcting Alignment) – Heals can be kept little high, if hamstring is hurting too much.

 

Down ward Dog Pose - 3
Down ward Dog Pose_(Adding variation to the Pose) – Hips should be moved up, knees can be kept slightly bent.

 

Down ward Dog Pose - 4
Down ward Dog Pose_(Adding variation to the Pose)– Moving chest towards thighs and head deeper to the mat.

 

Summary

Of course, learning yoga from book, TV, internet will work but only then, when you have at least 2-3 months of training under good mentor. So my dear friends! please, give a try learning yoga under good mentor and experience the change.

Sushma
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