Yo- oh god!

May 9, 2007 11:33 AM

I'm looking for suggestions for someone beginning in yoga at home.

A while back the husband bought me a yoga kit that came with a DVD, flashcards, and a booklet. It's called Simply Yoga, a beginner series from Barnes and Noble, and the instructor is Yolanda Pettinato.

I thought, 30 minutes of stretching and sitting cross-legged. How hard could it be?

Hahaha. Oh god, I'm sweating and my muscles feel like they're made of pudding. But a little water, and yeah, I feel pretty good.

So this is where you all come in, at least those of you who enjoy and practice yoga.

Recommend me some beginning yoga for fat people, that I can do at home. Because hello, that Child's Pose where you settle your weight in your hips over your knees and stretch your arms out with your forehead 'resting' on the floor? Yeah, you know that pose? My big arse kept tilting forward so all my weight actually rested on my face, which was sliding across my yoga mat. I think I have rug burns on my nose.

Help.

posted by FunkyHelix to sports, hobbies, & recreation (15 comments total)

I've heard good things about Yoga Shakti, but haven't tried it myself.

Unsolicited advice: If you've never taken yoga with an instructor, it might be worthwhile taking a course. They'll correct your poses, and prevent you from any possible injuries that might arise from doing something wrong. Then you can go back to the dvds.

Stick with it - I credit yoga with helping me drop a bunch of pounds, and eliminating reoccurring tension headaches.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:55 AM on May 9, 2007

Yeah, I've been doing yoga for a couple of years, and I still can't do child's pose. These are some of the poses that we commonly do in the "slow beginner" class I'm in:

Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)
Upavistha Konasana (Open Angle Pose)
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog)
Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)
Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose)
Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose)

The important bit is that we don't try to get all the way into the pose--we use props to brace against when we can't reach the floor. A block or a chair provides a place to bend to when you can't bend all the way to the floor.

My wife is a lot more knowledgeable about this; I'm sure she'll be along to recommend some other poses and possibly a book or two.
posted by hades at 12:05 PM on May 9, 2007

I credit yoga with helping me drop a bunch of pounds, and eliminating reoccurring tension headaches.

I'd just be happy with touching my toes. :)

Thanks, I'll look around and see if there's any classes in my area.
posted by FunkyHelix at 12:06 PM on May 9, 2007

Yoga is great. You might benefit from briefly taking a class and then taking what you learned back to your house. When I took yoga there was at least one pregnant lady and one heavy lady with bad knees. The istructor took a fair amount of time helping those women set up alternative poses which wouldn't injure them but were still in the spirit of the original poses. My guess is that once you got a few of those set up to replace the poses that give you trouble you can take them home and work with them. My favorite yoga book is Yoga the Iyengar Way which is sort of a yoga 101 book which talks a lot about each of the poses. It's not for heavy people per se, but it can help you understnad what poses are good for, what their goals are and how you might be able to modify them.
posted by jessamyn at 12:08 PM on May 9, 2007

Lilas, yoga and you :)

I had to.
posted by cashman at 12:44 PM on May 9, 2007

Yeah - n-thing the "take a class to start with" suggestion. Call around to see if they have a slow beginners class, since some intro classes move faster than others.

The instructor should be able to give you "modifications" to make it easier for you to do certain poses at whatever your current level is. (eg I have terrible wrists, so I'm always doing a slightly different version of poses that involve putting weight on your wrists) He or she will also be able to point out whatever the most important aspect of the pose is - so you can go for just the important aspect, and leave the more advanced aspects for later once you're stronger and more flexible.

I know that ashtanga yoga is a set series of poses, always in the same order, so you can do it on your own. The classes are to help you learn the poses, and then you can do them at home on your own schedule.

Also -- as a relative newbie to exercise, I have to say going to class was very motivating for me. If you find one with a good teacher, it can make a huge difference!
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:48 PM on May 9, 2007

Hi, I'm hades's wife. If you're looking for a yoga class, and I think that's a great idea, I'd recommend finding one in the Iyengar style. You might have to try a couple of classes before you find one you like; I did.

Iyengar yoga tends to be a bit on the slow side and uses a lot of props -- some people call it "furniture yoga" -- and I find that very helpful. We also practice against a wall a lot; do you have a big chunk of wall space that you can practice against? That's great for poses such as Trikonasana and Ardha Chandrasana. I also like to do Upavistha Konasana with my legs up the wall and my back on the mat.

It's a goofy title, but in addition to Yoga the Iyengar Way (which is great) I really like Cool Yoga Tricks. It gives you a lot of interesting ways to use props. You can really expand the range of what you can do if you use those prop tricks, and eventually you'll be able to move away from the props.

Unless you happen to have magnificent balance and great core strength, I'd also recommend Judith Lasater's little book Yoga Abs: Moving from Your Core. Improving my core strength and proprioception made a huge difference in my own yoga practice.

If you'll pardon my getting a little preachy for a moment, don't worry overmuch about reaching your toes or the floor or what-have-you. As my yoga teacher says, "It's just the floor. No big deal." The real goal in yoga for most people, as I've experienced it, is not to bend ourselves into the perfect asana shape. (And some of us physically cannot bend ourselves into those perfect shapes and never will; the shape of the heads of our femurs, for instance, may prevent us from achieving the ideal-looking Baddha Konasana, and that's just how it is.) It's to find our physical limit -- whatever it might be at the moment -- and go there in a calm and precise way, neither overdoing nor underdoing.

I'd say that if you do 30 minutes of yoga and feel tuckered out but basically good, you're already pretty much kicking ass. Keep doing that, and you're golden.

(Heh heh heh. "How hard could it be?" Heh heh heh heh...)
posted by sculpin at 12:56 PM on May 9, 2007

(Well, keep doing that while maintaining correct form, and you're golden. There's where a good teacher comes in, not to mention a lot of careful attention on your part. But, yeah, it sounds to me like you've made a very good start.)
posted by sculpin at 1:00 PM on May 9, 2007

I've heard that a good modification for child's pose is to do it with your knees spread, resting your torso in between.
posted by apostrophe at 1:43 PM on May 9, 2007

I was also going to recommend spreading your knees in Child's Pose; your legs should kind of nestle against the sides of your belly. (That's actually the standard version of the pose in anusara-style yoga, on the theory that being able to breathe is a good thing!)

Yoga Journal has a few articles on doing yoga with extra weight that might be helpful. The suggestions to work with a teacher a few times are great; if you can't do that, or in addition to that, I would also suggest getting some more props. Having a strap and a yoga block (or three!) around can really help. You can sit on the block to prop you up a bit in seated poses, or put it in front of you in forward bends so you can rest your hands on it if they don't reach the floor. You can use the strap to lengthen your arms, basically -- if you're seated and stretching forward, hook the strap over the balls of your feet rather than trying to grab them with your fingers.

As others have mentioned, Iyengar is great for teaching students to use props. (And as my non-Iyengar teacher always says, using props does not make you a bad or less developed yogi!)
posted by occhiblu at 2:17 PM on May 9, 2007

There's nothing magical about having your arms out during child's pose, either--it's supposed to be a restorative pose, one where you can flop down and chill and catch your breath--so don't worry about doing it "right". To get that feeling I find it helps to bring my arms in to "chicken wing pose" (my term...elbows bent, hands roughly underneath shoulders but not a lot of weight actually on my arms) so I can get some breathing room... you can put your hands under your forehead, too, or bring your arms all the way back to your sides. You can also use downward facing dog as a resting pose, although ymmv as far as how restful it actually is.

Anyway, no specific tapes to recommend, but definitely check out your library. You'll find more minor variations then you ever thought could exist, and often a tape that seems otherwise sucky will have one comment that provides crucial insight in to your body/a pose/life.

(Oh and don't forget a blanket as a crucial prop... put a layer of blanket underneath the edge of your rear to make sitting straight legged easier, wrap a blanket around and under your knees to support you during bound angle, blanket under your knees for cat-and-cow, and, my favourite, blanket to snuggle under during relaxation!)
posted by anaelith at 2:23 PM on May 9, 2007

I've got Megan Garcia's DVD and book on yoga for larger folk. I like them - as does another larger friend who's been doing yoga for several years.
posted by rikhei at 2:59 PM on May 9, 2007

"Stretch with Priscilla" is a very good yoga show on PBS. She also has tapes available. She does poses for all levels, and is very detailed in her explanations/instructions. She's also very encouraging, reminding us that "it's a cinch by the inch" - we can't expect to do it all right away, but even if you get down and try one pose, and then maybe two poses the next day, etc.
posted by Oriole Adams at 3:24 PM on May 9, 2007

Ultra-nthing 'go to a class'. You can injure yourself at home, and learn bad habits. Hie thee to a class, first. Then start doing it at home on your own. You need someone correcting your postures.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 5:26 PM on May 9, 2007

Thanks everyone. :)
posted by FunkyHelix at 6:32 AM on May 10, 2007