My 20 minute power yoga routine

by Priya
(Chennai, Tamilnadu, India)

I am 26 years old now. I do power yoga 3 times in a week and breathing exercises daily.

I started doing yoga to shed those extra kilograms I got during pregnancy. I learned it from my master.

Yoga is an ancient form of exercise in India. It will help us to keep both physically and mentally strong.

The toughest part in my regular yoga practice is the "sarvangasana" ie."raising the whole body".

First I should be in a sleeping posture, then I should raise my entire body from legs to neck at one go and should balance the body mass with the help of my hands placed over my buttocks for 1 minute.

It is really tough for me because I feel that I lose balance whenever I do this.

I used to practice yoga regularly along with my friends. It is not a compulsion in yoga that everyone should do all the "asanas". It is not a one-time workout. Yoga is a lifetime investment for our health. I still enjoy doing yoga.

Everyone above 10 years of age can practice yoga. If we start too early (i.e. below 10 years of age) it will cause hormonal imbalance.

We should not practice it with the help of tapes and cd's. It should be learnid only from a trained master, because he/she knows an individual's strengths and limitations to do the asanas.

The ideal time to do yoga is the early hours in the morning(4.00 to 6.00 a.m.).

Yoga should be done with an empty stomach. Women should not do yoga during their menstruation, and in the first and last trimesters of their gestation.

The breathing exercise what we say is "pranayama" should be practiced in the morning because it will supply more amount of oxygen to our brain cells, which in turn reduces sleep and makes us fresh all through the day.

So guys, go ahead, get started ,do yoga, live a happy and healthy life.

All the best.

Priya

Note from Dr. Dan

Priya,

Thank you for the information about your experiences. It is quite interesting the differences in cultures.

For some people a workout is raising iron weights over their heads. For other is it yoga postures. They can both help a person develop both mentally and physically, but with such different approaches.

Dr. Dan