Yoga can provide you all sorts of benefits including physical and mental stress relief, slowing the aging process, mood improvement, along with relaxation and peace. However, beginners, usually out of overenthusiasm, often make some mistakes at understanding and practicing yoga and try the poses without proper guidance. Not just the beginners; but some experienced yogis also make some
mistakes while practicing the yoga postures. They can surely benefit from some fine-tuning and by knowing the common yoga mistakes.

1. Pushing too hard
   It has been noted that most people know when they are trying to push themselves too hard; but they like doing it. This is so because when we think of exercise, we have one common theory and that’s “No pain no gain”. Even when we exercise in a gym, we do not feel satisfied with the workout unless our muscles start to cry uncle.
   But, yoga is the exact opposite. If your muscles are cringing with pain, then it’s a sign that you’re on the fast track to injury and muscle strains. Yoga asanas should never cause pain. Yoga is about
   awareness. It’s about listening to the subtle signals your body sends you and you have to respond accordingly. So, if it starts to get painful, you must back off.
2. Comparing yourself to others
   When you start yoga at home or in a class, you will find some super flexible yogis or their pictures that seem to master every move effortlessly. You are bound to feel intimated by their flexibility and
   would love to reach that stage. However, it doesn’t come easily. It needs years of practicing. Comparing yourself with others will only cause a lot of frustration and you may end up convincing yourself that yoga is not for you. Hence, you must fight the urge to compare yourself with the experienced yogis and get down on yourself.
3. Picking up a wrong spot to practice
   If you are planning to attend yoga classes, which place you think would be the best? Of course, you would like to be in the front! Right? Wrong! If you want to place your mat wisely, then go to the
   back of the class. You do not need to be in the front to see the instructor because most of the times he or she will be moving around and helping people correct their pose. You can also try the
   row previous-to-the-last. Some moves may require you to face the back of the room. So being in the last-but-one row will guarantee that you always have someone to follow without disturbing your
   form to look over to the side.
4. Practicing asanas with a full stomach
   You should never practice yoga poses on a full stomach. When you have a full stomach, the poses can get uncomfortable. Besides, the blood supply that is funneled to your digestive organs can leave
   your muscles shortchanged on the energy needed for a successful practice. Well, we agree that food is like fuel for our body. But, the key to benefitting from this fuel is to eat about an hour before your
   session and to keep the portion size down. This will make sure the blood has enough time to digest the food, pick up the energizing nutrients and pass them to the muscles before your first pose.
5. Practicing asanas every day
   Yoga is a strength-building activity. But, you have to give your muscles some time to recuperate from the micro-tears that occur with each workout, especially in the beginning. Hence, you are
   advised to practice yoga every other day when you are just starting out; otherwise your muscles will be exhausted.
6. Not warming up properly
   Time crunch is an unavoidable part of our routine. This time crunch may tempt you to skip the warm-up moves and go into a complicated posture directly. But this is sure to increase your risk
   of injury. You must do some stretching for at least 5 minutes to warm up your body to the point where it can go into the serious poses more easily.
7. Not cooling down after workouts
   Just as you need to warm up before each yoga session, you also need to cool down after the session. A cool-down for at least 10 minutes is essential to help your muscles and ligaments to repair
   and recover before your next workout. This will also help you to avoid fainting or dizziness that may occur due to the pooling of too much of blood in the legs during standing postures.

Yoga is an everyman’s activity; not just because it can be practiced by anyone with a mat; but because it can be practiced from anywhere and even by the elderly people, pregnant women and
those with physical restrictions. However, just because you can bust some of the yoga moves doesn’t mean you’re doing it the right way or getting the most out of your efforts and the time spent.
When you practice yoga, it is important to look at your mistakes and work to correct them to make sure your awareness and form do not suffer.
Avoiding these common beginners’ mistakes will help maximize your benefits and reduce your risk of injury. And remember, yoga is a continuous practice and your goal should be to improve
constantly to achieve perfection

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