Alignment is a term used in yoga asanas to describe the precise way to do a certain pose that maximizes its benefits and minimize the risk of injury. It is important to understand that alignment is crucial in the practice of Yoga. Aligning your body properly according to your own anatomy, strength, and flexibility is the best way to have a safe and effective practice that will give you optimal results.
HYA Yoga School has professional teachers who are trained in teaching the right posture and pose alignment.
Reasons why alignment is important when practicing Yoga:
Create a safe practice –
Using proper functional alignment can support forestall injury and make you less susceptible to sprains and strains. Being aware of how your body feels with different movements is necessary to understand how to align yourself in one posture. Working with a qualified instructor or implementing key principles are good starting points for educating yourself and increasing your body awareness. To avoid possible dangerous movements, do not force yourself into a posture, and use accessories instead. Although it is a learning process, going back or changing your movements when you feel pain or discomfort will make you a better yogi and greatly reduce your risk of injury.
Create a stronger connection with your body –
Increasing body awareness is something that demands time to develop. But it can have enormously positive effects on your overall well-being. Practicing Yoga with alignment in mind can improve the speed and deepen this process. Finding movements that work best for you as an individual is necessary, and this may require some experimentation. Truly understanding the difference between what feels good and what feels bad requires trial and error, but that’s part of the journey to build this connection. Paying attention to your alignment also assists foster the relationship between your body, mind, and breath, as it requires you to breathe and move consciously.
Maximize the perks of yoga postures and practices –
There are many types of Yoga, including Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, etc. The main reason we practice these yoga asanas is to reap all the benefits that it offers. By doing Yoga in proper alignment, you will get even more benefits than you would otherwise. Some benefits may include increasing strength, flexibility, mindfulness, energy flow, circulation, and balance. We also get benefit mentally and spiritually by creating conscious movements and practicing “at the moment.” If you lack proper alignment, you can only reap fringe benefits from each pose and your practice as a whole.
It helps to be more present –
Whether you are doing yoga in a studio or at your own home, it can sometimes be difficult to focus fully. Thoughts can pop into your mind at any time that plays in your head during your practice. By implementing signals and principles as you move, the mind will aim to position your body and use your breathing instead of diverging into external thoughts. Once positioned in a pose, you can really focus on holding that pose and breathing with a clear mind. Being present will give you the ability to deepen your connection to yourself during your yoga practice, and the need for these external thoughts will decrease considerably.
Help practice efficiently –
By organizing your body into its anatomically correct positions, it helps to increase energy flow and create more efficient movements. Using proper alignment can also make poses appear more difficult to perform. You will get more out of your practice using proper alignment techniques because the correct areas will be aligned and activated.
The conclusion –
Practicing yoga with proper alignment can help you get more benefits with a shorter practice than you otherwise would in a longer practice.
