Tips for Improving Your Yoga Flexibility

As you continue to practice yoga, you’ll notice that your flexibility begins to improve. You can think of your muscles as a rubber band. The more you pull these muscles the farther they will stretch. The issue is that our muscles can feel like old, rugged rubber bands that will snap if they are stretched too much. To be fair, our muscles don’t exactly work like rubber bands. Our muscles become more flexible by loosening them up and increasing the range of body motion. 

Yoga requires our bodies to be flexible in order to achieve certain poses. Roses Poses wants to help you become more flexible so you can do any yoga pose you want. 

What Is Flexibility?

Before you decide to bend your body into different poses, you first need to loosen them up. 

Flexibility is not actually determined by our muscles, but by our nervous system. Let’s use the hamstrings as an example. Let’s say your hamstrings are tight and you attempt to do a deep forward fold. As you begin to go down, your brain will send out a warning signal to your hamstrings and they will begin to contract. This is a natural survival mechanism that our body does to protect us. Our hamstrings will become less flexible but become stronger. 

Attempting to push past this can result in injury. Yoga will help your muscles become more flexible by teaching them to relax when they hit their limit rather than pulling on them to make them stronger. Relaxed muscles are loose muscles and that means more flexibility.

How To Improve Your Flexibility

It’s important to remember that flexibility does not come from pushing yourself past your limits, but rather from reaching the limit and staying there. The best way to improve your yoga flexibility is to keep practicing. These tips can help you do just that. 

• Test Your Limit: You shouldn’t force yourself past your limit, but you should still reach your limit. Play around with your limits and see how far you can stretch. This is the only way you can learn the limits of your body and reach past them. 
• Use Your Breath: When you inhale, make sure to focus on alignment and check the integrity of your posture. As you exhale, focus on letting go and sinking deeper into your current posture. 
• Remain Calm: A majority of tense muscles come from a fearful brain. The nervous system triggers muscle contractions. To combat this, keep your breathing long and smooth and remind yourself that you’re safe so your nervous system can relax. This will lead to calm and relaxed muscles. 
• Keep Holding Poses: There is a considerable amount of research that supports the idea that muscles need time to relax. Staying in a pose for five breaths is good for your muscles, but staying for five minutes and your muscles will be much more relaxed.

No matter if you practice yoga regularly or just occasionally, following these tips will make great changes in your flexibility. Don’t worry about lengthening and focus on relaxing. 

Need Help With Your Yoga Flexibility?

If you want to increase your flexibility or you want to get more involved with your yoga practice, then Roses Poses is here for you. Roses Poses is a full yoga studio found in South Florida that offers a number of different classes. We want to help you realize how important yoga is for you. Visit our contact page today if you have any questions or come visit us in person and try one of our many classes. 

Yoga is a great exercise that helps train and reinforce the body and mind. A yoga studio is an amazing place to practice yoga, but sometimes we can’t always make it to the yoga studio. Doing yoga at home can be convenient, but it requires some setup in order to get an effective yoga session in. Roses Poses want to help you create an effective yoga routine for when you want to do yoga from home. 

Roses Poses is a yoga studio in Greenacres, Florida and we know what it takes to create an effective yoga routine. Find out what you need to do below.

Create a Yoga Space

The first thing you want to do is create an open, quiet space where you’ll be able to stretch and concentrate without distraction. You don’t want to be in a noisy area surrounded by different people.

Relax Your Mind

Before you begin, start with centering to calm the mind and bring yoga into full focus. If you plan on doing an hour-long yoga session, you should center for about 5 minutes. 

Be Gentle

No matter if you’re planning to do an advanced yoga flow or a restorative yoga session, you should start with gentle stretches for about 5 to 8 minutes to help loosen the body. Make sure to breathe deeply in each pose for 3 to 5 breaths.

Move Some More

Once you are warmed up, do a few more poses such as sun salutations. Do these for about 15 minutes to help control your breathing.

Time to Get Up

Start with a balancing/standing sequence. Poses such as the triangle, reverse triangle, or a dancer’s pose are great examples. Do these for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Increase the Difficulty

If you want to do a more challenging pose or transition into a drop back or inversion, this is the time to do it. Give yourself about 6 to 8 minutes and finish with a good counter pose.

Take a Seat

Seated poses are what should follow next. Gomukasana and buddha konasana are great options for the hips and a pigeon pose is a great option for sciatica pain. Remember to breathe deeply and never push yourself over the edge. Do different poses sitting down for about 10 minutes.

Lay Down

When you’re ready, lay down. This is a good time to do another restorative exercise, like using 2 blocks to open your chest and improve slouching. Spend 8 minutes doing this. 

Corpse Pose

Finally, end the session by laying on your mat with your eyes closed. Let go of your breath and breathe normally. Use this time to relax and push intrusive thoughts away. Do this for about 10 minutes.

Roses Poses Has Effective Yoga Routines for You

This is a good outline of what you need to do in order to create an effective yoga routine. In order for it to be effective, you need to stick with it. If you are looking for a yoga studio in South Florida, Roses Poses is here for you. We offer classes every day at different times so you can always make it to a class. 

5 Ways to Get Back Into Yoga

Do you remember the first time that you ever touched the yoga mat? It was an exciting time where you feel energized and ready to improve your overall health. As time goes on, however, staying committed to yoga was something that couldn’t happen due to a number of different things happening. We get it. Staying dedicated to yoga can take some time and get back into yoga is the perfect way to do that. 

If you’re ready to get back into yoga, Roses Poses wants to help you do that with 5 great ways to get back into yoga and continue your journey.

Practice at Home

One aspect of yoga that people will get caught up in is the idea that you need to be in a studio in order to practice yoga. This is not the case whatsoever. While practicing yoga in a studio can help guide you and show what you need to do, you can practice yoga at home and still see results. We understand that life happens and you won’t always be able to attend an in-person class. When that happens, look up some basic yoga stretches and exercises and do them at home. This will keep you focused on yoga and will make you want to continue to do so. 

Make a Commitment

Before you try getting back into yoga, make a commitment to yourself that you will do it. This doesn’t have to be anything demanding or intense. Make a commitment to do yoga at least 3 times a week. This will keep you motivated to meet that goal and stick to a routine. Setting an alarm on your phone is a great way to remind yourself that you need to do your yoga routine. 

Find a Studio That’s Right For You

One of the biggest reasons that people will give up on their yoga practice is because the studio they were going to was not right for them. It may have been too intense or unwelcoming, or maybe it wasn’t intense enough. Not being in an environment in which you are comfortable can make doing yoga challenging and uncomfortable. If you’re located in South Florida, we invite you to come to the Roses Poses yoga studio. We make sure that everyone who comes through our studio doors is fully comfortable and finds a class that is right for them. We’ll make sure that you fall in love with yoga. 

Get Proper Yoga Equipment

Not having the proper equipment to do yoga can make it a difficult thing to do. Try finding a mat that provides you with the best support and comfort. More importantly, make sure you are wearing clothes that are good to practice yoga. If you were doing yoga in clothes that weren’t breathable or flexible, then yoga could be fairly difficult to do. Once you get clothes that you like and feel comfortable in, getting back into yoga will be easy.

Find a Partner

One of the best ways to stay committed to anything is with a partner that holds you accountable. Find someone who also wishes to get back into yoga and hold each other accountable to practice every few days. Eventually, it will become a fun challenge between you and your friends to see who can practice the most yoga.

Roses Poses is Here For You

If you want to get back into yoga, Roses Poses can help you do just that. With a beautiful yoga studio found in South Florida and plenty of different classes, we know we will have exactly what you need in order to love yoga again. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us through our contact page.

Is Yoga Enough For Your Fitness Needs?

Yoga is a phenomenal activity that is beneficial for all areas of your personal health – physical, mental, and emotional. Many people often have the misconception that yoga is not enough to cover basic fitness needs. This brings up the question, is yoga enough for your fitness needs? The answer to this question depends on several different factors, including the intensity of your yoga sessions and your overall level of fitness. 

Yoga for Excercise

Yoga is one of the best ways to stay both fit and healthy. It can be used to improve your health, flexibility, strength, posture, and much much more. It’s also an incredible activity that promotes emotional well-being and great mental health. 

Yoga has always been a popular way of exercising and for great reason. It’s a low-impact holistic workout that just about anyone can do. The poses are easy to learn and anyone, no matter the age, can find one that’s comfortable. Yoga can be your only form of exercise and depending on the type of classes and intensity, it can meet your physical activity tally. 

Yoga Intensity Level

The intensity level of your yoga depends on what classes and forms you choose. Each yoga class will offer a different amount of physical activity. There are great differences between a yin or gentle yoga class and a more challenging hot yoga class. The intensity will also depend on your current level of fitness. You will need to experiment with different classes and see what works best for you. 

Doing about 20 minutes of active yoga poses a day can satisfy fitness needs. If you are into a medium or low-level yoga intensity style, it will require longer practice. 

Will Yoga Build Muscle?

Yes, yoga is a great way to build muscle ton and strength. Doing yoga regularly will build muscle, improve flexibility, improve posture, and help maintain a steady, healthy weight. Poses such as the downward-facing dog and the Warrior pose will help increase strength in every muscle of your body. 

Can Yoga Be Your Only Exercise?

Yes, yoga can be your only form of exercise, although it doesn’t do a lot for your cardiovascular health. Yoga is an aerobic workout which is why many sports teams will add it to their training regimes to get in shape and recover from injuries. 

Roses Poses Helps With Yoga

Roses Poses can help you with your yoga practice. We offer a variety of classes that range in intensity so we know we’ll have one right for you. All of our yoga instructors are there to help you succeed and become better. Visit our contact page today if you have any further questions about our yoga classes or studio!