Yoga Is Not As Hard As You Think It Is - Or Try To Make It

Okay, so there you are in Borders or Barnes & Noble. Immediately in front of you is a table full of books on yoga.

It's alluring, yet frightening.

All those skinny people contorting themselves into those strange positions.

Heck, you and I couldn't have gotten into those positions when we were kids!

Oh, it would be so great to feel young, supple, and so full of energy and life as the people on the book covers seem to feel.

Maybe you get carried away and actually pick up one of the books and open it.

"Who knows," you think. "Maybe I could do yoga."

However, as you look through the book, it's not just that the descriptions seem confusing or that the text seems to sometimes smack of the mystical, but that all the people are as thin as your right leg and as flexible as a rubber band.

"No way!" you think, and putting the book back down with a sigh, head for the diet section, hoping to find some way to eat yourself thin, supple, and strong.

Don't sell yoga short as a health and fitness option just because it looks difficult or seems esoteric. There's a lot of hard evidence that yoga delivers the goods, and there are thousands of big, heavy, old, arthritic, inflexible, non-athletic people out there enjoying the practice of yoga...and the mental and physical benefits that go along with it.

It is not just that the people in the pictures have practiced yoga for years, or that they eat only a handful of bean sprouts or tofu each day. Most were also born with a genetic makeup which helps them achieve the levels of yoga mastery that they have.

This is true about almost any exercise or fitness discipline. While anyone can benefit, both in health and appearance, from methods such as aerobics, weight training, or yoga, each will achieve their particular level of success partially based on the genetic material handed down from their personal group of ancestors.

Each one's individual achievement will also depend on age, personal lifestyle, eating habits, level of commitment, time available for practice, and so on.

Most will not want to commit and dedicate themselves to the time and effort required by most to achieve "yoga book photo model" level of ability or fitness. However, even a less demanding but regular practice of yoga, and other exercise methods, will pay off in levels of health, fitness, self awareness, and self confidence that most people cannot even imagine achieving.

You will never know how far you can go or how much you can achieve until you try. You might even learn that yoga is NOT for you, but you won't know that either until you try. Realize, however, that you will have to learn the basics and gradually build a yoga routine which works for you. You may find that one in a book is perfect for you, but you may also find that you get more out of a personalized routine which incorporates movements and positions from several different routines.

The point is to get started and learn as you go.

Two great things about yoga are that it is fairly easy to learn and doing what you can do, not what the pictures show, will take you a long way.

You can find a lot of information about how to get started online, at your public library, or at such yoga-specific online sources as Wai Lana Yoga, or Gaiam. Eventually, of course, if you want to continue to grow in your abilities you will need personal help from an expert. However, getting started is easy, and cheap, since you can do yoga in your underwear (or naked, as some people do) on a space only three feet by six feet in length.

So, don't make yoga any harder than it is, and, for the beginner, yoga does not have to be hard at all.

Donovan Baldwin is a 65-year-old amateur bodybuilder, freelance writer, certified optician, and Internet marketer currently living in the Atlanta, Georgia area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has been a Program Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal Consultant for an educational field office. He has also been a trainer for a major international corporation, and has managed various small businesses, including his own. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he became interested in Internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. Learn more about yoga.4mg.com yoga basics at yoga.4mg.com yoga.4mg.com.