Taking Yoga

Create A Relaxed, Zen Energy When You Practice Yoga

Taking yoga is highly beneficial for the average person. It offers numerous advantages, including improved flexibility and strength, stress reduction, increased mindfulness, better posture, enhanced balance, and improved overall well-being. Yoga provides a holistic approach to physical and mental health, helping individuals find harmony and inner peace. With its adaptable and accessible nature, yoga can be practiced by anyone, regardless of age, fitness level, or body type, making it an ideal choice for the average person seeking to improve their overall health and wellness.

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Yoga Benefits

Yoga exercises involve strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing, meditation, and relaxation. Another key point, and something I learned as a boxer is that the flexibility you gain through yoga can improve your range of motion. This is critical in the ring. It helps you dodge your opponent, throw stronger punches, and prevent injuries. Practicing yoga can help you increase muscle density and lose fat. But the benefits of yoga go beyond that. It can also help increase the ability of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels to deliver oxygen to your body tissues. If this all sounds great to you then read on.

Areas of The Body Yoga Targets

CORE; How would you like to reduce back pain, develop better posture and improve your balance? The Plank Pose reigns supreme due to its ability to work all four muscle groups in the stomach. It’s a simple, effective body-weight exercise that requires no equipment and can be performed just about anywhere 

To perform the Standard Plank, you simply get into a push-up position. You don’t actually do push-ups, but you hold this position for about a minute. Try holding it for 2 minutes. This sounds easy, but it can be a challenge, especially when you’re doing it for the first time.

Elbow Plank

This variation (using the forearms) is one of the most common ways to perform a plank. To put it another way, it’s slightly easier than the Standard Plank. To demonstrate, place your forearms on the floor with elbows aligned below shoulders. Next, your arms should be parallel to your body at about shoulder width. If flat palms bother your wrists, clasp your hands together. The next thing you want to do is contract your abdominal to keep yourself up and prevent your butt from sticking up. Don’t let your back droop or you’ll be defeating the purpose. Finally, hold this position as long as you can. Aim one minute in the beginning and work your way up to 3 minutes as you get stronger.

To really burn out the middle of your abs, try the boat pose. This can be a real challenge, because it’s hard to gain leverage with your legs in the air, even while supported by your arms. 

Boat Pose, a.k.a. Navasana, was around long before the yoga world started talking about core strength. Specifically, the Boat Pose remains one of the best ways to focus on your abdominal strength. It helps you do so many other yoga poses, especially gravity-defying arm balances and inversions.

Strength: It takes a lot of strength to hold your body in a balanced pose. To point out, at first it can feel impossible to do, but in time it becomes easier as you build a stronger core. Significantly, the Boat Pose builds abdominal and core strength. In addition, it works the deep hip flexors. These muscles get lazy when you sit too much. It will also help you build your balance.

Other Areas Yoga Improves

Flexibility: Taking yoga stretches your muscles and increase your range of motion, something very crucial to boxers.

Back: The “downward-facing dog, child’s pose, and cat/cow pose” give your back muscles a good stretch. It’s no wonder that research finds yoga may be good for relieving a sore back.

Glutes: squats, bridges, and “warrior poses” involve deep knee bends, which give you a more sculpted rear.

Arms: With yoga, you don’t build arm strength with free weights or machines. It’s important to realize that you build arm strength with the weight of your own body. Another key point is that some poses like the plank spread your weight equally between your arms and legs. Others like the crane pose challenge your arms even more by making them support your full body weight.

Low-Impact: Although yoga can give you a full-body workout, it won’t put any impact on your joints. Incidentally, as a boxer, I also found jumping rope to be much less punishing on the knees than running 5 miles. All this combined to make me more cat-like in my reflexes and foot movements.

Before Taking Yoga…

Talk with your doctor about any new physical activity you plan to take part in.

Only a doctor who is familiar with your medical history can tell you if taking yoga will help or hurt you.  If your doctor clears the way for you to practice yoga, it is best to start with an instructor in a few private sessions before you decide to join a class.

Second, if you are new, make sure to choose a Yoga Class that accepts beginners.

Contact the studio to find out which classes accept beginners. Know that many accept beginners in any class, but it’s still always good to contact them first. They will provide you with more help when you get started. It may also be helpful to know that other studios offer certain days and times designed just for beginners. Some studios offer one on one sessions. But beware, these classes tend to be a bit on the pricey side.

Third, grab a friend to join you.

By all means, bring a friend along. First off, it can actually help you both move forward in your health and fitness journey. Bringing a friend allows each of you to motivate the other as you begin the new fitness program. Yoga is great for this. You can practice the poses you learned in class at home, OR on your own time. You can critique each other’s form to help speed along with the progress.

Try to refrain from eating for at least 2 hours taking a yoga class.

With this in mind, your body will have enough boost to power through your workout. Besides, your body needs time to digest the food, and this requires energy and increased blood flow to the stomach.

As a Primed Welterweight Boxer (147 lbs), it took me some time to find out what worked best for me. My training included a 30 second rest period in between intense drills that lasted an hour. I discovered that if I ate a handful size amount of oatmeal and banana, for example, I had energy that lasted well past my workout time. Drinking Distilled Water or Coconut Water kept me hydrated, and it didn’t feel heavy in the stomach like tap or bottled water

What to eat before taking yoga?

The following foods are ideal before participating in any form of physical exercise and not just yoga. These foods will curb your appetite and provide lasting energy. They include oatmeal, avocado, pudding, yogurt with Chia Seeds(my favorite), banana, apple, pear or dried fruit with nuts. These foods are not only very healthy, but they are easy on the stomach. Eat only a handful size amount, and be aware of how you feel during your practice. Keep track of what and when you ate in preparation. Eat what feels best for your body so that you feel light and comfortable throughout the duration of your practice.

What to eat or drink after taking yoga?

You need to replenish after taking yoga to avoid soreness, cramping, and dehydration. Coconut Water is excellent for this. It’s all-natural, low in sodium and has lots of potassium. This is especially important if you are practicing Hot Yoga. Great foods to eat are;

• Grilled chicken with roasted vegetables.
• Egg omelet with avocado spread on toast.
• Salmon with sweet potato.
• Tuna salad sandwich on whole-grain bread.
• Tuna and crackers.
• Oatmeal, whey protein, banana, and almonds.
• Cottage cheese and fruits.

Make sure to re-hydrate and restore electrolytes. Drink at least five to six tall glasses of water a day. Though this may take a conscious effort at first, it can become easier if you map out your water drinking schedule. A good strategy is to drink a glass first thing in the morning, another a few hours before lunch, one glass at lunch, one during dinner and another before you go to bed.

Try mixing your water with cucumbers, lemons, or limes to make it more tasty and healthy. Coconut Water is one of the best and natural sources of electrolytes. Focus on water-rich-foods such as kiwis, citrus fruits, pineapple, watermelon, celery, and tomatoes. Avoid drinking beverages containing caffeine, alcohol, and refined sugar. Refined sugar is sugar that has gone through a refining process, or chemical process to remove the molasses that’s naturally found in it.

What About Smoothies?

Drinking a smoothie is excellent both before and after class. They’re convenient, easy to make and save you the time and stress of preparing a full meal. Just have your ingredients ready, put them in the blender and you’re set. For example; Try making a smoothie with a tablespoon of Moringa Leaf Powder, a handful of Baby Leaf Spinach, Collard Greens, Kale, a handful of raw nuts, a scoop of Chia Seeds, half a cup of coconut water, Organic Blue Berries, strawberries, a cup of frozen fruit, and a sprinkle of uncooked oatmeal to top it off. It’s filling, hydrating, healthy and it only takes a minute to make. Pick up a blender specific for smoothies along with a recipe book, and make eating healthy a quick option when you are short on time.

Taking Yoga in the right gear.

The yoga trend is still growing, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere soon. Moreover, yoga practice can be challenging. In addition, it can be even harder if you fail to wear the right yoga clothes. In short, finding the style that’s more comfortable for you means fewer things to worry about!

Generally speaking, when you’re taking yoga in the right gear, practicing becomes fun and a whole lot easier.  In this case; We’ll keep the focus on leggings.

WHY?

1. In the first place, they make you look skinny and you feel snug.

2. Even people with the flattest of asses can look like they have some junk in the trunk

3. You can wear them out on the town

4. Although subjective, they can be the perfect travel outfit

5. You can wear them under shorts, to bed, to the gym and straight out to “happy hour ”

6. They don’t take up space in your drawer

7. Finally, they make you look athletic even when you haven’t stepped inside a gym in months

Admittedly, the only “leggings” I ever wore while training were Compression Pants under my Boxing Shorts. Nevertheless, Yoga Leggings are really fashionable, designer, Compression Pants. They are just as flexible, breathable, and ideal for you to exercise at your best. But in truth, you can practice yoga in anything that feels comfortable, won’t restrict your body movements, or slide down easily.

Find Your Style

Click the photo below.

With The COVID-19 Pandemic Being An Issue, Can I Practice Yoga At Home?

IN SHORT, OF COURSE YOU CAN! Most people actually practice yoga at home rather than in a studio. And with the Coronavirus pandemic, practicing yoga at home never looked more attractive. What’s more? Who can argue that one hour of yoga at home is by far more beneficial than driving, parking, and paying to practice for an hour at a studio? In the first place, when you practice yoga at home, you’ll be safer from exposure to airborne viruses. By the same token, you’ll be more relaxed, more balanced, and your self-awareness will deepen. You also don’t need much to begin. For one thing, you should choose a quiet, uncluttered place in your home, then stock it with a yoga mat, bolster, etc. Generally speaking, wherever you practice, the space doesn’t have to be large, but it should be quiet, clean, and open.

Bring Yoga Home

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