Yoga Basics 1: Getting A Feel For Your Body

Yoga Basics 1 focuses on simple pushing exercises that you can do within a set of basic yoga poses.

You could think of these exercises as similar to pushing a car out of snow, but instead of pushing a car, you’re pushing parts of your body using friction and simple pushing actions.

Learn to Feel Changes in Relationship

One reason for these exercises is that they help you to learn how to feel changes in the relationship between parts of your body. But they also help you to learn to feel the muscular actions that cause those changes in .

Actions Versus Appearance

Another benefit to these exercises is instead of thinking about whether or not you are doing the exercises correctly, you can focus on feeling your body as you do the exercises.

The focus is on what you are doing versus how you look while doing it.

There are some basic alignment points but the focus is more on feeling how the parts of your body relate and varying those relationships.

Improve Awareness and Control of Hips and Shoulders

This ebook (you get all three formats: pdf, and ) includes a simple routine designed to help you use basic pushing actions to better feel and control your hips and shoulders.

These pushing techniques can be used in stronger poses like side plank but also in working towards improved flexibility in poses like the forward bend and front-to-back splits.

Book Layout (For Continued Ease of Use)

Exercises are clearly defined with instructions on where to place your focus. Pictures have been included to easily see what it is that you are trying to do in each exercise.

Navigation has been included to make it easy to navigate only through the pictures or only through the descriptions. You can also click back and forwards between an exercise's description and its pictures.

Once you've done the routine a few times, you may find it useful to use the summary as a quick reference for what you are trying to do in each pose.

Overview, and Modifications

The book includes an overview of the basic actions so that you can apply them in other poses. And it includes some possible mini-routines for when your time or motivation is limited.

Pictures and descriptions also include modified versions of each pose, generally using a chair for when you can't reach the floor.

Clear and Simple Instructions

The exercises and instruction are designed (and have been tested in classes) to make it as easy as possible to learn to feel and control your body.

There will be some work required, but instead of trying to figure out what the instructions mean, you can get on with the exercises themselves because the instructions are clear and simple.

My email address is included so that I can help with any problems.

Is This All I Need To Know?

This book is the start of a series of books and videos designed to help you learn your own body. The body is a complex system. It takes time to learn. And the best way to learn a complex system is little bits at a time.

Each book and/or video focuses on clear and simple actions that help you to progressively experience and understand your body. It's a lot like going to school. However, to pass each "grade" it's not how low you can go in the splits, it's how well you can feel your body and control it.

And speaking of the splits, if doing the splits is one of your goals, the techniques in this book can help you get there, but only part of the way.

Guaranteed!

This book is covered by the 45 Day happiness guarantee. Nope, not 45 days of happiness, just if you let me know within 45 days of purchase, you'll get your money back. And that should make you happy, or at the least, not stressed that you're taking a risk in buying this book.

So what's the background of the material in this book, and me the teacher?

I teach a variety of different actions in my yoga classes. I generally use the same general set of actions over a course of a few weeks, refining the way I teach them but also coming up with simple fixes for the students who don't get the actions. Of all the actions that I teach, I feel that the ones covered in this book are the most basic and the most useful for a beginner just getting started in a yoga or "body awareness" practice.

Future books will build on what you've learned in this book.

Why not include all the techniques in one big book?

I've thought of that.

But one reason not to is that it's easier to focus on one set of related actions at a time.

As a student, hopefully, it's less daunting for you and you can get on with learning.

Plus there's less risk for both of us. You get to try one set of actions (covered in this book) and if it works for you great. If it doesn't then you can get your money back or leave it at part 1 (maybe you got some benefit but decide that the way I teach isn't for you).

So why start with this book if there are others to come?

Well, you have to start somewhere. The important thing is to start.

**I'm not very flexible! Are the exercises in this book suitable for me?

You don't have to be flexible to do the exercises in this book. In fact, they may help you get a little bit more flexible. (But that's not a guarantee.) If you can at least sit upright on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, then you should be able to do the exercises in this book.

I've got injuries! Are the exercises in this book suitable for me?

No!

If you experience pain in any of the poses, "adjustments" are included for most of the poses so that you can fine-tune the way that you do the pose. But the exercises in this book have not been designed or described to take account of pre-existing injuries.

So what are the advantages of doing this exercises in the book?

  • You'll get a better feel for your body.
  • More specifically you'll learn to feel changes in the relationship between parts of your body.
  • You may then learn to feel the changes in tension that cause those changes.
  • You'll learn to feel the difference between when muscles are activated and relaxed.
  • You'll be able to improve your ability to relax muscles and activate them at will.
  • You may find that some of these simple actions help you to improve your flexibility. (However, that isn't guaranteed!)
  • You may also find that you improve leg and arm strength.


Extras

This book comes with four videos.

These are supplementary videos that clearly some of the poses and actions in this book and also include one or two extra actions.

The book itself includes notes on these videos as well as when to watch them in the context of the material in the book. (You can, of course, watch them straight away in the order given. The videos are designed so that you can follow along if you choose.)

They can be streamed or downloaded (the downloads are MP4 format).


As an additional option, you can purchase Yoga Basics 1 and Yoga Basics 2 together. These two programs are designed to complement each other. 

Where Basics 1 focuses on deliberate movement, Basics 2 focuses on deliberate stillness. 

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Yoga Basics 1: Getting A Feel For Your Body

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