Please recommend some asanas

[Zon]

Hi folks!
I don't have the book yet, so I'm asking you to provide me with some suitable asanas to begin with. I've done some quick spinal and neck stretching for 3-5 mins before paranayama and meditation. You can just suggest the names of a few asanas and I'll google them for details or however you please..

Thank you!
--
Johannes

[Jim and His Karma]

I'd strongly suggest you take a hatha yoga class. As in all things, bad habits that creep in early are the hardest to purge, so it's good to get going under teacher supervision to avoid problems later on. Asanas are great for you, but that doesn't mean you can't screw yourself up a little if you do them wrong.

I recommend teachers in the Iyengar style, but I don't know what's available in Finland. If you absolutely can't find or afford a yoga teacher, there are a number of very experienced hatha yogis here who will help point you in the right direction. And even if you do find a teacher, feel free to ask questions here.

It's terrific that you're learning asana and AYP at the same time. I'd have avoided decades of dead ends if I'd been so lucky!

quote:Originally posted by Zon

Hi folks!
I don't have the book yet, so I'm asking you to provide me with some suitable asanas to begin with. I've done some quick spinal and neck stretching for 3-5 mins before paranayama and meditation. You can just suggest the names of a few asanas and I'll google them for details or however you please..

Thank you!
--
Johannes

[david_obsidian]

Hello Johannes,

Yoga Journal's website is a good resource for asana information.  Below is a beginners'  kit

http://yogajournal.com/newtoyoga/864_1.cfm

You can also make good use of the search engine on their home page.

Regarding books,  'Yoga Mind and Body' by Sivananda Yoga Center is a lovely yoga book,  very reasonably priced for a hard-cover book with color photos of losts of asanas well explained.  It's easily available at amazon.com

Hope that helps,

-David

[yogani]

I agree with Jim about taking a class on asanas (postures). This is also recommended in the AYP lessons at http://www.aypsite.com/plus/71.html

For those who are chaffing at the bit to get started, an "Asana Starter Kit" is included in the AYP book -- written instructions and illustrations for 14 basic postures that can be done in a short routine before spinal breathing and deep meditation. An "abbreviated" (very short) version is also included for people on the go. The AYP book can be downloaded anywhere in ebook format. See http://www.aypsite.com/plus/books.html

The guru is in you.

[Jim and His Karma]

If we're gonna recommend books, I like this one: "Yoga The Iyengar Way" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679722874

...though, again, it's really better to at least start with a teacher (and return to a teacher periodically for new insights/corrections).

[Victor]

I would have to agree with jim about Iyengar. He is the Master of Asana! His book "Light On Yoga" is teh classic text in the field. If you do want to study Asana the iyengar way I would strongly suggest working with a teacher however as there are many subtleties and details that only a good teacher who sees you in the poses can share. When it comes to Pranayama however i much prefer the AYP Pranayama practice to the Iyengar style. It more directly addresses Kundalini energy as well as relieves blocks that the Iyengar Pranayama doesn't seem to touch. Best of luck and if you have any questions of specific asanas that you are working on you will find some very experienced people here to help you along the way.

[Jim and His Karma]

Yes, yes...thanks, Victor, for saying that. It's really best not to do Iyengar pranayama! In fact, if you're going to do AYP (which is a smart idea), lay off ANY other meditation or breathing practice, so effects don't interfere or combine. That's an important point Yogani makes again and again but which a lot of people I talk to seem not to be following, which is a little scary.

Asana is "modular" to AYP, however...whatever asana practice you want to do fits just fine. It's one of the things I'm very happy about....

[Zon]

Thank you all for your quick replies!
I already ordered the AYP book, it just takes 2-3 weeks to come..
And yes, I'm thinking of checking out some yoga-class as there are plenty of those here in Helsinki. I've also done some home study on asanas from a few finnish books and have experience on basic stretching so I hopely won't harm myself. I just didn't know which asanas would serve best as you can do only a few in the 10mins recommended, yes? So I should just pick a few that feels good for me, right? And maybe take that yoga class also.

I'm also having this dream of integrating some asanas to my martial arts classes (hapkido) but more on that when first I get a bit more of experience on asanas..

--J--