bookitty-hime: Do you have any suggestions for like yoga DVDs for complete newbies? I'm really interested in starting yoga, but I have no idea how to start. I guess I could take a class, but that can get expensive. :<DVDs are totally cheaper. I would only go to yoga classes for social reasons/camaraderie.
Check out Sarah Ivanhoe’s videos by Crunch. I think she has a DVD set by her own publishing or something too. I like her for beginners because she verbally describes the poses very well and that’s really important for beginners to learn how to do them properly without hurting themselves. Faster, more intense cardio yoga videos tend to skip over all those nuanced details and basically expect you to already know them so they can keep up the pace.
Alan Finger and Esther Eckhardt are really great too (I think they’re both Dutch??). Esther has a youtube channel and from what I’ve seen she’s more for the chronic pain crowd. Yoga Yak is a good channel too. There’s a lot of good yoga on youtube but sometimes it can be hard to weed out the beginner vids from the advanced vids.
And always keep in mind— easy poses for beginners are JUST AS EFFECTIVE as advanced poses for advanced practitioners. As long as you can find the edge of what challenges you, then you’re going to advance at the same pace. Advancing takes a little bit of pain, but as you learn you’ll get the feel of what is “working” pain (which can be synonymous with pleasure) and outright “YOU NEED TO STOP. NOW.” pain.
triangle and reverse right triangle pose are good ones too.
I reach around my back and grab my inner thigh but it really works just as well with the hand reaching back in the air. just at a certain point you can’t stretch any further so it’s just more relaxing to do the wrap-around.
Ever fill a sandwich baggy with water and hang it on above window? That scares them off as well.
omg when i was a kid i always wondered why stables did that. going to try it.
thatcaliber: What are some of your favorite yoga moves?I’m really fond of twists in the high-lunge/runner’s pose. They used to be super challenging for me but now I can hold them pretty long. I also like the low lunge bending backwards. People tend to forget about their hips. When you start strengthening the hips you start filling out more— like I used to have a bump for the top of my hips, then it would curve in, then my thigh would curve out. Now my hips are a simple curve and gives my body an hourglass look. I’m not in it to look good per se, it is just super helpful when you’re squatting, standing, and bending over a lot at work. That concave area between the hip and the thigh fills in with muscle.
I do a lot of twists. Twists relax the spine (my big problem).
Table and reverse plank are great for the shoulders.
Dude I could go on for days.
But runner’s pose/high-lunge is REALLY important to get good at but building the strength SUUUUCKS. GOD It was my least favorite part of all of my videos until I finally got strong enough.
Anonymous: aww I wish I had the money to buy horses and take riding lessons...They’re really my mom’s.. My name is on the papers for one of them but I don’t ride anymore. Can’t get up early enough to beat the broiling summer heat.
A few of our horses are rescue horses though. The pricey part is feeding them and vet bills. Lots of people out here have horses they just can’t get rid of because they’re mutts. Our horse Riskey (he’s the fatty in the pic) we found tied to a cement block behind some seedy burger shack.
Out here you can usually find someone down the road who can give lessons.
