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Wear comfortable clothing in which you can move freely; It's best to
practice barefoot.
• Ideally, practice on an empty stomach: try not to eat 2-3 hours before
practice.
• Practice in a well-ventilated room that is neither too hot nor too
cold.
• Always do a few warm-up movements, combined with deep breathing,
before doing the hatha yoga poses.
• If time is short, remember that it is better to do a few postures
slowly--and deeply-- than to do many of them hastily.
• Never strain or struggle to get into a pose. Move into and out of the
postures gently, smoothly, and with awareness. Do not push through
tightness; it's much more effective--and much safer--to relax it away
with awareness and with the breath, thus facilitating a deeper opening.
• Use common sense: Honor contraindications suggested for the poses and
breathing exercises, even if you "feel up to it." ("Contraindication"
comes from "contra," which means against, and "indication." It refers to
a condition, usually physical, that indicates one should not do a
particular asana or pranayama).
• Never compete: Don't expose yourself to injury by competing with
others--or with yourself. Pride of body or of superior flexibility have
no place in yoga. Progress in yoga is not absolute, but
directional--it's a matter of taking your own next steps.
• To the best of your ability, breathe diaphragmatically while holding
an asana, unless the asana calls for a different, specific type of
breathing.
• In all poses, avoid swayback (over-arching the lower back) by tucking
the tailbone when necessary to lengthen the lower spine. In some cases,
contracting the lower abdomen seems a more natural movement and will
accomplish much the same thing.
• Remember that your neck is part of your spine. Keep it in line with
the rest of the spine to avoid compressing the cervical vertebrae or
discs.
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