Over 40 and New to Yoga? Here’s What You Need to Know!

Hi, I’m Karin from KARIN YOGA LIFE!

If you're a woman over 40 and new to yoga there are a couple things to keep in mind.

Firstly, yoga is a great way to get strong and flexible!

If you’re a woman over 40, yoga can strengthen your core, legs, arms, pretty much any part of the body!

There are so many misconceptions about what yoga is and what yoga isn't.

First of all - it's your body, your yoga.

 Although yoga can strengthen your body and help you get more flexible, yoga is also all about what feels good for you.

 Yoga is not about getting into some crazy position. It's not about getting your head to the floor or to your feet.

 Yoga really is about exploring how different postures/poses/stretches and different movements feel in your body.

 Yoga was made for you, not you for yoga!

 Rest when you need to

The second thing to keep in mind while you're doing (we say practicing) yoga is that if you feel tired and you need to rest always feel like you can rest whenever you need to.

You can always rest in child's pose or in any position that feels good to you.

Nothing should hurt

Thirdly nothing should hurt. You should not feel any pain. A gentle stretching feeling is fine. You may have a feeling of mild discomfort because something is stretching, lengthening. That is fine.

Sharp pain is not fine. Pain in the joints is not fine. So if you're feeling pain in the joints or sharp pain or any major discomfort simply come out of the pose, back off, or rest if you need to.

 Yoga is centered on the breath

Lastly yoga is centered on the breath. We talk a lot about breathing in yoga.

Generally speaking we breathe in and out through the nose. But there are many different ways to breathe/breathing exercises that we do in different types of yoga practices. Yoga teachers often say, as long as you're breathing you're doing yoga.

So please take it easy when doing your yoga, always be mindful of how you’re feeling, be gentle with yourself and enjoy your yoga!

 Note: It’s always a good idea when starting any new form of exercise to check with your doctor to see if yoga is right for you.

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