11 fast Q&A on yoga

Does yoga practice involve any special yoga lifestyle?

No, yoga does not dictate any special lifestyle that would be different from the conventional. On the other hand, yoga does not insist on the fact that you should have most common normal lifestyle. Yoga is for absolute freedom of the person and calls to conduct exactly the lifestyle that suits you best. Yoga is powerful enough to give benefit to a person with any lifestyle. But yoga believes that a healthy lifestyle is the most optimal for humans.

Furthermore, it should be remembered that the yoga teaching is very ancient. And during this period, the lifestyle of people practicing yoga has changed the enormous number of times . Lifestyle of people of the Bronze Age and the era of the ancient Vedas in the East had different lifestyles compared to the time of the Buddha, or the Iron Age. And the same refers to the present days. Yoga as teaching felt great in all these eras, and, we have no reason to believe that the modern way of life could contradict with the practice of yoga. Another thing, we have seen too rapid changes in lifestyle during the modern era . It leads to the danger of losing the ancient yoga knowledge. The lifestyle and priorities of even the closest generations are too different , and it is very difficult to transfer yoga knowledge to the younger generation. But it is rather a problem of transfer and adaptation of yoga knowledge. The yoga techniques have remained unchanged for ages .

What is the best kind of yoga to start with?

Yoga gives the recommendation to begin with the kind of yoga where you use your physical body during the practice. It could be hatha yoga and kriya yoga. Later a person can practice mental and other kinds of yoga, such as radja yoga, pranayama yoga and so on.
At the same time, yoga says that, if a person can’t start with physical practice, he/she can start practicing other kids of yoga. At that moment it doesn’t matter which practice will be the first. The most important thing is to practice.

How often is it necessary to practice yoga in a group or at home?

The experience shows us that it is better to practice yoga minimum twice per week. It is not effective if a person does yoga less than twice. Later, you can feel a need to do your practice every day. The most important is to do it harmoniously and feel joy during your practice. It is unacceptable to do yoga as a punishment, you will not receive a good result. It is better to practice yoga regularly, than to do it every day and finally give up the practicing.

How much time is necessary to practice yoga at home?

Firstly, listen to yourself. It is useful to have 20 minutes long practice and then increase it to 40 minutes. You will find your own duration by experimenting. In general, it is individual time for each person. It starts from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. You can divide your yoga practice in two or more parts, if you wish. For instance, twenty minutes of yoga practice in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening.
The time is not the most important, but rather regular practice. If your practice is regular, you will see benefit even if you practice for five minutes a day.

What should I do if my relatives (husband, wife or parents) do not like that I practice yoga?

Is it possible to practice yoga in the public place (in the subway, at work and etc.)?

Are there any food restrictions before and after yoga practice?

Is it possible to practice different kinds of yoga at the same time?

We received the following question "Recently I attended my first theoretical class of yoga. It was clear, logical and inspiring. After the lecture I met a person. He seemed as he has been attending lectures for a long time. He was strange and I thought he was abnormal. He said that he gave up on yoga practice and that yoga was the first step. He told that he saw my aura and problems with men because of an evil spirit. He also said that my 18th chakra was blocked and I have negative karma. He offered his help and gave his number. I have got a question, what does he has in common with yoga?

It seems like that person does not have any connections with yoga at all. Unfortunately, it is a problem of the modern yoga. There are a lot of strange people around the yoga. Strange people search for listeners, but have nothing in common with yoga. Be careful when you hear that a person has completed the entire yoga and behaves abnormally and does not follow the second yoga principle. Of course, he could be a great yoga Master, and you just do not understand him. But usually they are insane people, so do not believe them when they speak about problems with your aura or about negative karma. Actually, you as well as us, have negative karma, because we meet this kind of people.

There are also some even more unpleasant individuals. Those are false healers, psychics, etc. They have more practical interest to demonstrate extraordinary behaviors. The interest is money. These people try to find clients in the yoga classes. Normally they are good psychologists and they can easily find a way to your valet. They talk a lot about „the family curse and whammies”. Sometimes you will hear something about karma and black karma and so on.

We can give some advice to you, if you meet people like that. Firstly, follow the yoga principles. They are: be kind and use common sense. It is not your goal to fight with them or dispute with them. Seems like they are necessary in the nature for some reason, but it does not mean you have to invite them in your world. You must finish any conversation with them carefully, but very persistently. If you feel you cannot stop them talking, so excuse yourself and leave the room without any explanations. Do not care about how it looks like in eyes of other people.
There is an analogy. You know about the mould. It is absolutely necessary in the nature. If it would not exist, nothing would destroy everything that is dead and moribund. But it does not mean that you have to keep it at the kitchen table.

Demonstrate humor, common sense and reasonable skepticism and you will make healthy atmosphere around you. It gives you a guarantee that strange people will not feel comfortable with you. It is the same as mould does not feel comfortable on the clean table.

Certainly, the world is full of mysteries and puzzles. Everything that takes away your freedom and paralyzes your will must be discarded from your life. All mysteries of the Universe have to come on time when we are ready for them and they can help us. This is the way of yoga.

I have already passed all yoga material long ago. I know everything that you can offer me. What should I do next?

If you had already passed all yoga material you would probably have become The Greatest Teacher of Yoga or you have got the specific approach of self-assessment. As nobody of us has yet passed the entire yoga material we cannot tell what you should do next. Even more if you are The Greatest Teacher of Yoga then there is nothing we can tell you.

I want to practice yoga but I do not like your approach to yoga. Can you change your attitude to some things?

The most reasonable way from our point of view you should find another yoga school in which you like the approach more.

It is a delicate question regarding changing of our approach. We cannot change our attitude to the First and Second Yoga principles. The same refers to other moments which follow from the yoga teaching.