Yoga can help you achieve peacefulness and a harmonious balance between your mind and body. It has a lot of health benefits such as improving your posture, relieving stress and stretching your tight muscles. However, if you are only a beginner in this art and science of yoga, you might get that natural feeling of uneasiness when you see the different yoga positions. Add to that the fact that each position has a strange and sometimes intimidating name to it.

These beginner yoga poses will help anyone to get easily acquainted with yoga. This will get them started on the right foot, allowing for the gradual move to more intricate yoga positions. Nevertheless, easy or hard, every yoga pose has a corresponding health benefit to give to you.

1. Balasana

Also known as the Balasana, this yoga position aims to relieve mild back pains. For you to do this you must first drop your body on the mat in a kneeling position. Lunge your upper body forward with your arms stretched out forward with the palms resting on the mat. Then your belly should be relaxing on top of your knees. Hold this position for a minute or two.

2. Mountain Pose

This is known as the Tadasana and it will help improve your posture. You stand straight with your big toes touching each other. If you are uncomfortable with your knees touching each other, you can spread them out a little bit just to ease off the pressure. Move your quadriceps upward, causing your knee caps to rise. Next, tone the belly and draw it in. Your collar bones should be parallel to the pelvis. Keep your neck straight the whole time.

3. Cat Stretch

This yoga position will help improve your abdominal strength while stretching the spine. To achieve this, you must drop on all fours just like a cat, hence the name. Now imagine that there is a line drawn on your back. It should be straight, starting from your head all the way down to your spine. Keep this imaginary line straight. Hold this position for a few seconds or a couple of minutes.

4. Standing Forward Bend

Also known as the Standing Forward Bend yoga pose. It is one of the many beginner positions that will stretch out your hamstrings. Stretching your hamstrings is important because you make it more flexible and therefore less prone to injuries. You do this position by first standing straight. You then bend forward with both arms falling down the sides of your legs. Your palms should then be resting flat on the floor or your mat. Put your weight on the balls of your feet.

5. Raised Hands Pose

It is also called the Raised Hands Pose, it helps straighten your back which improves your posture while at the same time strengthening your thigh muscles. To achieve this pose you must stand straight on the mat. Next, stretch out your arms upward into the air with both palms touching together. Always be mindful to keep your back straight all the time.

Technorati Tags: Beginner Yoga, Harmonious Balance, Health Benefit, Health Benefits, Posture, Relieving Stress, Science, Tight Muscles, Yoga Pose, Yoga Poses, Yoga Position, Yoga Positions

Yoga can help you achieve peacefulness and a harmonious balance between your mind and body. It has a lot of health benefits such as improving your posture, relieving stress and stretching your tight muscles. However, if you are only a beginner in this art and science of yoga, you might get that natural feeling of uneasiness when you see the different yoga positions. Add to that the fact that each position has a strange and sometimes intimidating name to it.

These beginner yoga poses will help anyone to get easily acquainted with yoga. This will get them started on the right foot, allowing for the gradual move to more intricate yoga positions. Nevertheless, easy or hard, every yoga pose has a corresponding health benefit to give to you.

1. Balasana

Also known as the Balasana, this yoga position aims to relieve mild back pains. For you to do this you must first drop your body on the mat in a kneeling position. Lunge your upper body forward with your arms stretched out forward with the palms resting on the mat. Then your belly should be relaxing on top of your knees. Hold this position for a minute or two.

2. Mountain Pose

This is known as the Tadasana and it will help improve your posture. You stand straight with your big toes touching each other. If you are uncomfortable with your knees touching each other, you can spread them out a little bit just to ease off the pressure. Move your quadriceps upward, causing your knee caps to rise. Next, tone the belly and draw it in. Your collar bones should be parallel to the pelvis. Keep your neck straight the whole time.

3. Cat Stretch

This yoga position will help improve your abdominal strength while stretching the spine. To achieve this, you must drop on all fours just like a cat, hence the name. Now imagine that there is a line drawn on your back. It should be straight, starting from your head all the way down to your spine. Keep this imaginary line straight. Hold this position for a few seconds or a couple of minutes.

4. Standing Forward Bend

Also known as the Standing Forward Bend yoga pose. It is one of the many beginner positions that will stretch out your hamstrings. Stretching your hamstrings is important because you make it more flexible and therefore less prone to injuries. You do this position by first standing straight. You then bend forward with both arms falling down the sides of your legs. Your palms should then be resting flat on the floor or your mat. Put your weight on the balls of your feet.

5. Raised Hands Pose

It is also called the Raised Hands Pose, it helps straighten your back which improves your posture while at the same time strengthening your thigh muscles. To achieve this pose you must stand straight on the mat. Next, stretch out your arms upward into the air with both palms touching together. Always be mindful to keep your back straight all the time.

Technorati Tags: Beginner Yoga, Harmonious Balance, Health Benefit, Health Benefits, Posture, Relieving Stress, Science, Tight Muscles, Yoga Pose, Yoga Poses, Yoga Position, Yoga Positions

Many adults enjoy and are aware of the rewards of yoga. Yoga stretches tight muscles, builds body awareness, improves endurance, and calms the mind and body. But yoga is now attracting a younger audience who is finding out that yoga can be a fun way to exercise and relax.

Yoga may not look like other forms of exercise to most people, but they are amazed at how the seemingly simple poses can work out so many different areas of their body.

Why Yoga is Different

For people lacking in confidence about their body image, some group activities can backfire causing people to further disconnect from their bodies and actively resist taking care of themselves. Yoga’s emphasis is on self-acceptance which makes it more appealing, a less intimidating way to get active. Yoga stresses a nonjudgmental emphasis on body awareness.

Yoga is not a competitive sport- there are no winners or losers. Yoga can give less confident people that much-needed support from their peers. If someone in a class has difficulty with a particular pose, often others in the room help them out. Yoga offers many people an opportunity to just relax. Just getting to be –without having to achieve anything in particular- is a huge relief to many people.

The Added Benefits of Yoga

Traditional sports tend to emphasize strength and speed over flexibility. Many adults overlook the importance of stretching. Additionally others use weight training to develop major muscles while ignoring the supportive and opposing muscles which are equally as important. Yoga can help correct these imbalances. It helps build endurance and flexibility, thereby improving athletic performance. Yoga can also enhance your ability to concentrate and focus, and improve your posture. Chest-opening postures and inverted poses strengthen arms, shoulders and back muscles, which teach you how to carry yourself with more self confidence.

Yoga can also teach you how to stay calm centered and focused in the midst of distraction and to let your body relax. This is an important skill for anyone who is experiencing transitions- physical, emotional, intellectual in today’s fast paced world. Yoga often becomes an outlet for working out people’s emotions. It can help you take control of you frustration and find alternative ways to deal with it rather than reacting right away.

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Allison Preston is the author of this article runs www.Fitness-Web.com which compares and reviews fitness videos, exercise equipment and other health and fitness related products.

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