There is something to be said for routine in your yoga practice (or any fitness program). Following routines gives your body a chance to integrate patterns of movement so that they can be done without excessive conscious direction. Thus can you enter that celebrated state of "flow" that psychologists and performance experts talk about. (Learn about the concept of flow from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the man who first named it, at TED.com.)
But sometimes, a routine becomes a rut. The collection of yoga DVDs my wife and I have accumulated over the years are a testament to that. Sooner or later, even our favorite routine gets a little old, and we're ready to mix things up again, to introduce a healthy dose of novelty and confusion. So I was pretty excited when I discovered the free streaming yoga lessons at yogajournal.com. Check out their selection here.
If you're new to yoga, or are looking for a short, relaxing routine for your Sunday morning, try this one:
Enjoy!
PS, if you haven't seen it, check out this story from the BBC about prisoners practicing yoga in India. For these inmates, yoga offers the potential for spiritual and physical liberation; for every three months a practitioner spends in the program, he gets 15 days off his jail time. Sounds like something we could use here in the states!
YogaVibes.com has free instructional online yoga videos on specific poses or aspects of yoga to help deepen your practice, as well as full-length classes for purchase.
Posted by: Kathryn Thier | 01/28/2010 at 10:52 AM