Welcome to the tenth day of the 30 days writing challenge of this year. You can find a list of all the articles I wrote at the end of each article. Please have a look at the end of it to understand how can you participate in this one.

What Is Yoga, After All?

Simply put, Yoga is a practice of several body postures, combined with specific breathing and meditation. It's way closer to a martial art, from a discipline point of view, than to a spa-like approach, as you get to see it, unfortunately, advertised in almost all the Western world. Yoga became a "stress reliever", a practice that you can pay for it, a couple of days per week, stay in asanas 3-4 hours, and then you're done with it. So, so far from reality.

Yoga is a meditative practice that helps one to maintain a healthy body and a healthy mind. And all meditative practices are hard. They require commitment, concentration, dedication and a lot of persistence.

I've been practicing various flavors of Yoga, on and off, since I was ten. Of course, I couldn't keep at it continuously, there were quite a few long gaps in my life when I didn't practice. But during the last couple of years, I finally managed to incorporate it in my daily routine. I practice between 30 - 45 minutes every day, sometimes up to an hour. It's worth mentioning that a big role in this process has been played by my partner, @raluca, who is certified Yoga teacher.

Now, here are a few very simple things that you can do if you want to take this path.

1. Find A Reputable School

That is by far the most difficult part, because, like I said, the popularity of Yoga in the Western world, led, counterintuitively, to its demise. Very, very few "Yoga studios" out there are actually Yoga studios, they're merely some fitness classes with a glorified paraphernalia (see below). So, it's very important to do your research before joining a studio. Here are the questions that I would ask:

• is this studio following a specific Yoga school? Which one?
• is this studio having accreditation processes for its teachers? Where they can be found?
• the teachers have at least 5 years of experience in practicing (preferably 10)? Where you can verify that?

2. Stay Away From Yoga Paraphernalia

An entire industry bloomed around the Yoga phenomenon and there are a lot of things out there to buy "in order to make your Yoga practice perfect". From hyper-engineered mats, to special chairs, straps and whatnot, the amount of stuff that you "have" to buy seems to be infinite. Well, just a simple mat will do, believe me. If you really need the rest, you can improvise.

3. Start Small, And Build From There

As with any other habit, it's crucial that you start small. Not only to avoid discouragement, but also to prevent injury. It seems to me that Yoga, practiced with a rushed mind, can lead to injury faster than running, for instance. So, just because you can't do a headstand after the first month, it doesn't mean you're "not good". Just keep doing small steps. Keep practicing. Sometimes it takes years.

4. Find A Yoga Partner

That's closely related to my personal experience. I was lucky enough to have a Yoga teacher in my house, and that made me realize how important it is to have somebody with who you can share your experience, practice together, ask questions or just keep each other accountable. So, if you're not that lucky, maybe it is a good thing to find a friend who wants to share the same journey with you. It really makes a difference.

So, this was my (very short) list of best practices for getting into yoga.

One more thing: in my experience, people get into yoga because of two main reasons: either they have a very serious medical condition, and yoga is a last resort approach, or they are slowly incorporating it because it simply makes them feel better. Interestingly enough, if your reasons are falling in the second category, that will greatly lower the chances for you to fall into the first category.

In other words, it's better to start practicing before it hurts too much.

How Do I Participate In This Challenge?

The criteria for @challenge30days account to vote your post are:

• post must be at least 300 words long
• post must be original
• post must be on best practices
• post must use the #challenge30days tag

Previous Posts In The Challenge

• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Keeping A Successful 30 Days Challenge
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Selecting Relevant Crypto Projects (Day Two)
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Surviving In The STEEM Universe (Day Three)
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Working Remote (Day Four)
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Working From Coffee Shops (Day Five)
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Learning A New Language (Day Six)
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Choosing A Crypto Exchange (Day Seven)
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Running (Day Eight)
• January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Getting A Good, Relaxing Sleep (Day Nine)

Steem on!

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

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