This week Her Campus gives you the low down on a fitness class that means you don’t even need to leave the house! You can do it in your PJ’s, with your housemates and can keep well away from the drizzly rain of winter!
Yoga videos are a fantastic way to feel amazing and look good. Not only are they free and accessible to anyone with internet (i.e everyone!), they are brilliant for your health. Yoga can be as gentle or challenging as you want and is a great work out for the entire body. Breathing is an important part of this type of exercise, and getting it right is crucial to maximizing the benefits of yoga, both for your body and your mind.
No equipment is necessary, although a yoga mat is useful and puts you in the right mindset to begin your stretching. Light weights can also be used in some exercise videos to get the most out of the stretches and to push yourself further; they are not usually more than 5kg and both these and the mats can be bought online at very affordable prices. Alternatively, use any household items; beer cans can come in useful!
Find a time when you won’t be interrupted by your housemates, or even get them to join in with you! Youtube has a plethora of videos to choose from, ranging from beginner to advance level as well as some videos focusing on targeting specific areas of your body, such as the core muscles. At HerCampus, we particularly love the 30-day Yoga Challenge by the channel “Do You Yoga”. It is awesome for beginners as it really takes you through the basics of yoga, which is really important to get right before you move on to some of the trickier stretches! Sign up to the 30-day yoga challenge and you’ll get a new yoga video sent to your inbox every day for a month! This is a brilliant and effective way at motivating yourself to stay committed to this form of exercise and to really improve as your body becomes more supple and flexible as the days fly by.
The class will start with some gentle stretches to warm your body up. Remember to keep taking regular and deep breaths as you stretch and you will find yourself becoming totally engrossed in deepening the stretches and calming your mind. At first, the yoga lingo may seem a bit alienating and strange but soon you’ll get the hang of it and know your downward dog from your dolphin!
They will then often take you through a series of stretches and sun salutations to work your whole body. It really is worth it to do the poses properly. It is not about who can flex the furthest with yoga, but more about the individual benefit from creating the poses in a way that is good for your body and doesn’t strain your muscles. You won’t be moving too fast and the idea here is to move almost seamlessly from pose to pose, and remember to keep hydrated with some water!
When the weather warms up a little, it’s a nice idea to take your mat outside and do some yoga. After a few weeks of yoga practice you’ll soon work out what moves and poses work best for your body and which ones you enjoy and get the most out of. Practising yoga outside can bring benefits such as minimizing stress levels through connecting with nature and getting some much needed fresh air after the long winter!
Yoga is amazing for both the body and mind. This ancient form of exercise encourages positive mental wellbeing as well as building up strength and flexibility for a healthy body. It can be good therapy for those who struggle to do other, more strenuous exercise and because of its slow and gentle nature, it does wonders for stress levels and can be an ideal way to start the day feeling refreshed.
Yoga can make you feel lots better in as little as a 20 minute session, so next time you’re skipping the gym because its way too cosy inside, give yoga a go instead!
images@ popsugar.com and yogacurious.com