Laura Eberstadt - Guided Yoga Class for Beginners: Practice Poses, Meditation & Mindfulness

Guided Yoga Class For Beginners

Practice Poses, Meditation & Mindfulness

Laura Eberstadt

Introduction

Aloha Yogis and future yogis,

Aloha means love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy. This is how I want to welcome all the beautiful souls out there listening to our audio guided yoga class.

Before we start I want to quickly introduce you to the essential ideas of yoga. Most of you are still new to yoga and got on this audio guide to find there personal way into a spiritual journey.

Often in Western culture Yoga is only perceived as a physical asana- which means physical posture practice. It means when people think of yoga, they think of getting their bodies into certain poses such as childs pose, warrior or downward facing dog.

In fact yoga is much more then this. Yoga means union and describes the union of body and mind which eventually leads you towards the answer of your big W question. Why are you here? What are you supposed to do on this planet in this life?

When we talk about those crucial questions we talk about our purpose in life. In yoga we call this our dharma.

I found one of the most beautiful guides towards dharma and its effect in the article The Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life by Amber-Allen.

I will put the Law of Dharma into effect by making a commitment to take the following steps:

1. Today I will lovingly nurture the god or goddess in embryo that lies deep within my soul. I will pay attention to the spirit within me that animates both my body and my mind. I will awaken myself to this deep stillness within my heart. I will carry the consciousness of timeless, eternal Being in the midst of time-bound experience.

2. I will make a list of my unique talents. Then I will list all the things that I love to do while expressing my unique talents. When I express my unique talents and use them in the service of humanity, I lose track of time and create abundance in my life as well as in the lives of others.

3. I will ask myself daily, How can I serve? and How can I help? The answers to these questions will allow me to help and serve my fellow human beings with love.

To conclude Ill put everything together one more time in a really simple way. Dharma means: I agree on having a unique spirit and I stay consciously aware to awaken that spirit. I write a list of my talents to find my unique gift. Once I found what makes me unique I start to unlock the full potential of this gift and start serving it to others in order to create abundance.

My philosophy and mantra based on that became: Surrender, Search and Serve.

This is a nice way to start our yoga journey. It is important that you free yourself from the ideas that you might have created about yoga. Try to connect more with your inner child and look from the eyes of a researcher. Always keep on telling yourself I don't know anything yet and this is what we are here for. Together we try to discover what this whole universe is about and yoga is one way to support us.

What is Yoga, Where does it come from and what does yoga mean?

Yoga means Union and is the physical, mental and spiritual practice that unifies body and mind which leads you towards your purpose in life.

Besides that yoga became one of the most popular workout routines in Western society. People started to recognize the health benefits of the practice and started to do yoga to gain flexibility, strength or even to loose weight.

It is a really convenient workout because there is almost no equipment required and you can practice everywhere. Depending on you needs you can choose to visit a yoga studio and practice together with other students and a teacher. If you want to practice at home you can find enough online teachers and tutorial for your personal needs. Eventually you will know most of the poses and even be able to create your own yoga routine.

Anyways especially in the beginning it is important to put emphasis on the right alignment in your poses. This is why I will give you as many cues as possible in this audio guide. Try to listen carefully and practice a good posture.

Even if this audio guide focuses on the physical practice also called asana practice I want you to notice that Yoga is much more than just a workout.

It is a philosophy and a way of life which originates from the Golden Age in India almost 26,000 years ago.

Yoga is part of the Hindu religion as well as part of Buddhism.

In Hinduism you will find yoga as part of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. It embodies their natural state of being and spiritual enlightenment.

In Buddhism yoga is used for their meditation practice. Yoga helps to calm the mind, creates a better focus and leads the practitioner into a state of full presence.

Generally Yoga as a philosophy integrates ideas of ethics, diet, cleansing, breathing techniques named pranayama, meditation and a whole system of spiritual development of the yogi.

As I said the primary elements used in Western practice are the physical poses, breathing techniques and meditations. Those are also the wants we are going to target in this audio guide.

In order to create the full union you also need to practice the other 5 key elements belonging to the system called the 8 limbs. I am just going to give you a quick overview to complete your basic knowledge about the origin of yoga.

The word 8 limbs comes from the old Sanskit name Asthanga (ash- 8).

The "eight limbs" of Yoga are:

Yama - Ethical behavior

Niyama - Spiritual practice

Asana - Physical poses

Pranayama - Breath control

Pratyahara - Turning our senses away from outside influence

Dharana - Concentration

Dhyana - Meditation

Samadhi - The ultimate state of consciousness and the goal of Yoga

This might sound overwhelming but dont worry I am going to guide you carefully through everything we are going to do today! Some of the limbs we are going to target another time. For now I want to make yoga as accessible as possible to you.

If you are doubting if yoga is the right practice for you check the next chapter and listen to all the benefits yoga can have on your daily life.

If you want to start practicing immediately you can skip to the chapter guided yoga class.

How can Yoga help us in life?

Yoga is designed to be practiced by everyone. It dosesnt matter how old, how flexible or how strong you are. Every level, every age group and every gender is welcome. Yoga is a unifying practice.

Some styles might be a better fit for you than others but on average a teacher always offers several options for each pose so that beginners and professionals can practice at the same time, in the same room, in the same class.

Yoga can be a wonderful way to create new friendships and meet inspiring people. The yoga community is known for being open hearted and welcoming.

Next to this their are important health benefits resulting from yoga.

A lot of people use yoga to slow down our fast path daily life. Often we are drowning in work load and dont know how to handle the expectations we push on ourselves.

It is commonly known that finding a good work - life balance is a hard game.

How can we be successful at work while still enjoying daily life activities and creating enough time for our families and friends.

Yoga can help to find the right balance. It allows you to slow down for a moment, to focus on yourself and serving your personal needs.

We constantly feel the need to serve others and as a consequence we often forget about ourselves. Yoga might be a solution to find some me time and listen to the needs of your body and soul.

It is scientifically proven that focusing on breath and movement has reduces stress and eventually leads into a healthier lifestyle.

In yoga we try to work as conscious and mindful as possible with our body. Practicing the physical postures (asanas) helps you to get a better understanding of your body and your posture.