yoga practice information guide

Mindfulness yoga for beginners can be very easy and undemanding, it's not all standing on your head for hours on end, and it can consist of basically nothing more than just a bit of gentle stretching!

Ah... if only everything was as easy!

The word 'yoga' derives not from yoghurt or Star Wars but from an ancient Sanskrit term derived from the root 'yuj', and meaning "to yoke" or "to join," "to unite".

Mindfulness yoga, as you might expect, takes the natural step of combining the disciplines of yoga and mindfulness. An excellent introduction is Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath Body and Mind by Frank J Boccio.

From the amazon description: "Drawing on several forms of yoga, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh serves up an accessible introduction to yoga from a Buddhist perspective that outlines the movements, poses, and breathing technique in seventy-five illustrations. Original"

You should then ideally think about joining a yoga class, and you really don't need me to tell you how to do that. Try typing yoga + the town where you live into a search engine.

One thing to consider however is that there are lots of particular varieties of yoga.* When it comes to the various varieties, personally I would start with Hatha yoga.

You'll need a mat and some loose clothes etc., which come conveniently bundled in a yoga beginners kit.

Yoga beginners kits typically include at minimum a yoga mat, a foam block, a cotton strap and an instructional DVD.

The props (the foam block and strap among others) provide useful support when practicing poses to help avoid strains.

Here's my list of best buy choices, starting with the cheapest:

The Firm Yoga Beginner Kit - under $25.

One skid-free matEasy-to-grasp foam brick supports posture and stabilityCotton stretching strap improves flexibility30-minute DVD for beginners

Gaiam Yoga for Beginners Kit - under $30.

Alignment yoga mat to help guide hand and foot placementOne foam blockOne cotton strapTwo full length yoga workouts for beginnersOne seated meditation preparation routine

SPRI Yoga Starter Kit - under $40.

One studio quality "sticky" matTwo foam blocksOne cotton strapYoga position posterYoga DVD

Wai Lana Basic Yoga Kit - under $40.

One skid-free matOne foam blockOne cotton strapOne yoga posture poster

Total Yoga DVD Kit - around $35.

One slip-free matOne foam blockOne cotton strapOne mesh carrying bag for storing and transporting the equipmentOne instructional DVD

EASYMat Kit - around $47.

A beginner's package for taking to studios.One slip-free matOne foam blockOne cotton strapOne hand towel for hot yoga

Mountain, hang dog, snoop doggy dog... once you join a class and/or start learning yoga for beginners, you'll need to get to grips with some curiously named beginner yoga poses.

Inspect these at your leisure by referring to yoga poses galleries such as those provided by about.com: http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaphotogalleries/a/photogalleries.htm.

Learn tips and techniques from expert gurus from around the world by Googling for yoga videos.

Don't forget to find out a bit about the history of mindfulness and yoga and take a peek at yoga journal magazine now and again for interesting news.

*(See http://yoga.about.com/od/beginningyoga/a/howtostart.htm )

For more info & tips about mindfulness and yoga, please visit Mindfulness Meditation, where you can also swap books, audio and video relating to mindfulness and mindful living for free!

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