Guidelines for Performing Yoga Exercises

..... By Robert Elias Najemy

Without doubt one needs to learn yoga from an experienced teacher. On the other hand, because some attempt to perform exercises guided only from a book, these general guidelines might be useful.

DO NOT FORCE YOUR BODY under any circumstances. No matter how many times we say this to people, they just keep on doing it. They try to push their bodies into the exercises, whether the body is ready or not. This is a great mistake which does more harm than you can imagine. Work slowly with your body. Respect its limits. These limits will gradually extend and you will gain flexibility if you work regularly and sensitively at stretching your limits. The body will get the message and the tension which is preventing you from proceeding will gradually be released. BE REGULAR in you practice. A few times a week is not enough if you really want to heal, transform or develop your body .DO NOT CONTINUE ANY EXERCISE WHICH CAUSES PAIN. Check with your doctor or exercise instructor what you should do. Pain is a message from the body which must be listened to. In some cases it may simply be the body's process of changing. In such cases, you simply need to bear with it and continue (without forcing) and it will gradually pass. In other cases you may be doing harm to some part of your body and may have to stop and do some other preparatory exercises before returning to that one.
 

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