7 Beginners’ Yoga Tips and YogaToes
These beginners’ yoga tips are from the founder of Dahn Yoga, Ilchi Lee. Plus, here’s info about YogaToes – an effective, easy way to exercise your feet and prevent foot problems!
“We connect bare feet with young, healthy, carefree experiences as children,” says YogaToes creator Frederic Ferri. “If we exercise barefoot, the shape, function, range of motion, and strength of our feet could improve.”
There are few things better than wiggling your bare toes on a sandy beach – or even in soft, smooth mud! Ferri’s YogaToes will keep your feet healthy and strong. Click on the feet with the special toe stretchers for more info about YogaToes, and read on for Ilchi Lee’s beginners’ yoga tips…
7 Beginners’ Yoga Tips
“People sometimes assume that getting healthy is a very difficult, complicated task that requires great knowledge, discipline and willpower,” says Ilchi Lee, founder of Dahn Yoga. “While these things do help, we can actually do a lot for our health with surprisingly little effort.”
1. Move your belly. When practitioners first begin Dahn Yoga training, we teach them a very simple, but highly effective exercise called the Intestine Exercise. All it involves is moving the abdomen in and out: Just push your abdomen out, making round like a balloon, and then pull in, like you are trying to bring your belly button back toward your spine. This beginner’s yoga tip can help to improve circulation in your abdomen while helping to move waste products out of your digestive tract.
2. Give yourself a pat. In Dahn Yoga, we often use what we call “tapping” to warm up before a session. It simply means patting your entire body with cupped palms in order to increase energy and blood flow throughout the body. This beginner’s yoga tip may look a little funny at first, but it feels great. Afterward, your body feels very warm and your can feel the buzz of energy throughout your body. It is a great way to reenergize your body when you have been sitting still for too long.
3. Shake it out. Recently I published a book called Brain Wave Vibration, which is all about using shaking and rhythm to create health of body, mind, and spirit. It is very simple, but incredibly effective. The simplest form is just to close your eyes and gently shake your head back and forth. This beginner’s yoga tip will help your brain “reset” and relax, allowing a break from the “fight or flight” stress state.
4. Do the twist. Spine health is very important because the spine is like the central pillar of your body. Many sports and exercises can help strengthen the back, but we often forget to move the spine in all directions to keep the vertebrae limber. So, next time you do your stretches, don’t just bend forward. Try twisting your spine. Place your hands on your hips, keeping your abdomen forward, and then try to look behind you while standing straight. For more info about keeping your spine straight and your posture strong, read Effective Fitness Workout Tips From a Pilates Instructor.
5. Sit cross-legged. When some beginners start Dahn Yoga, they find sitting cross-legged for meditation more difficult than the yoga stretches! When I taught in Korea, this was not usually the case because people were accustomed to sitting cross-legged on the floors of their homes, which is typical in traditional homes. I recommend spending more time in the half-lotus posture since it can help you keep your hip joints limber. In addition, getting up and down from this posture strengthens the legs and knees. This beginner’s yoga tip might make all the difference in later life mobility.
6. Tap your toes. One of the simplest and most effective Dahn Yoga exercises is called Toe Tapping. To try it, just lie or sit down on the floor and extend your legs. With your feet spread slightly apart, begin to tap your toes together. Continue for several minutes, keeping a steady rhythm and your legs relaxed. When you stop, you will be able to feel the circulation of energy tingling in the legs. This beginner’s yoga tip is a fantastic mind-body coordination exercise, and it helps to calm your mind.
7. Keep a cool head and a fire in the belly. In Dahn Yoga we emphasize a concept from Oriental medicine called “water up, fire down.” This beginner’s yoga tip refers to the fact that, in the healthy state, our heads are cool and our abdomens warm. If the body’s natural system is out of balance, this condition can reverse itself. Many of us are indeed out of balance, due to stress and poor lifestyle choices. If your head is hot or your abdomen is cold, it might be time to take a break and reconsider your habits.
For more yoga info, read Tips for Yoga, Pilates, Spinning, and Cross Fit.
If you have any questions or thoughts on these beginners’ yoga tips and yoga toes, please comment below!
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