Stepping into new situations can always be intimidating. Yogis of every level, from people who have never stepped into a yoga class to people who have kept a dedicated practice their entire lives can all be found in our studio; no previous knowledge is required! But if you’d like a little more of an introduction before you walk into your first class, we’ve got your back. Every yoga class is different, but there are some poses you’ll likely encounter in many yoga classes here at Oxygen Yoga & Fitness. Read on to learn a little more about these poses so you can familiarize yourself before stopping by the studio.
- Downward Facing Dog
Even if you’ve never been to a yoga class, you might have heard of this pose. You might have seen memes of dogs stretching their backs out, insinuating they were doing the pose. This position, which looks sort of like a leaning triangle with both your feet and hands on the ground and your hips up in the air in the middle can be accomplished by standing with two feet flat on the ground, leaning forward and reaching your arms out on the ground, and then pushing your hips back towards your heels. For a full demonstration on how to accomplish this pose, check out this video from Yoga Tree.This is a common pose to flow through during gour sun salutations and to return to throughout the rest of class.
- Shavasana
The pose you’ll likely end your yoga practice with is called Shavasana, otherwise known as the Corpse Pose. If you catch a yoga class at the end of their session and it looks like everyone’s fallen asleep, this is the pose you’ve likely caught them in. To take shavasana pose, you lie flat on your back with your legs and arms both lying out flat and comfortably on the floor. A favorite pose of many because of the opportunity to rest and focus on your breathing and mind at the end of class, it might be helpful inspiration if class gets a little tricky to keep in mind that you’ll get this pose at the end!
- Warrior pose.
There’s a couple of different warrior poses, two of the most common of which look like variations on a lunge. To accomplish warrior one, take a forward facing lunge with the front leg bent ant and the back leg straight behind you and with your arms up to the ceiling. Another iteration, warrior two takes a side facing lunge, turning your hips to the side wall while keeping the front leg bent and back leg straight.
- Tree pose
Some of the most fun and most challenging poses we do in yoga classes can be the balance based poses. One great example of these is the tree pose. A tree pose is accomplished by balancing on one foot and pulling your second leg up into a triangle like position against your leg. For a full demonstration, you can watch this video from Alo Moves. Remember that you’re never expected to be able to achieve these poses before stopping by class and if you find yourself struggling to balance while trying this at home, just know you’ll build strength and learn balancing tools in class that will make this seem much more possible.
These are just a couple of the many poses you may encounter in your yoga classes, but we hope you notice that while things may sound difficult and fancy – like shavasana – this could literally mean laying on the floor! Learning the name of the poses and getting started in your yoga practice can be a learning curve, but we think once you try a couple classes you’ll agree that the learning curve is very worth it once you start to recognize the mental and physical benefits. Check out our website to find a class to try out near you!