What is Advanced Yoga?

The objective of advanced yoga is not to be better or strike cooler poses than anyone else in advanced yoga class, instead, the qualities of an advanced yoga student is humility. They should not seek to be better doing advanced yoga poses than anyone else as advanced yoga poses are not party tricks. Yoga guides the practitioner to find the balance between mind, body and soul.

Do not let kids try out advanced yoga!!

There are many resources that demonstrate people doing advanced yoga poses such as books, magazines, tapes, DVDs and internet. Do not assume that you can straight away get up and do the poses. They are much more challenging than you think. Your doctor will most likely laugh at you in the emergency room as you hurt yourself while attempting those challenging poses.

Do not attempt advanced yoga poses unless you've been training in yoga for months or years. Even doing Pilates continually will help to condition your body to know what it's in for. (Pilates and yoga are very alike, although Pilates concentrates entirely on the body and ignores the mind and soul). Same scenario like weightlifting as you wouldn't start taking up weightlifting by beginning with half ton barbells, would you? You think you might able to handle it but most people will not.

You need to progressively build up to the advanced yoga poses by learning easy yoga poses, which will be challenging enough. In yoga, there should be no pressure to be the best in class - you just do what you are comfortable with. If at any time, the yoga poses starts to hurt - STOP.

Strike A Pose

There's more to advanced yoga than just striking a series of poses that make onlookers go 'wow'. Depending on what school or branch of advanced yoga you are practising, you are also encouraged to be a calm, moral person that can be flexible enough to weather life's blows and move easily into God's will (or the will of whatever Deity you follow).

There are other impressive things advanced yoga followers can do. They can lie on a bed of broken glass or walk through fire and getting out unscathed, not eat or breathe for hours, read minds, communicate to friends and disciples in dreams or even levitate. The purpose of advanced yoga is not in all those as it is to become one with the universe, which can be your point in life and in advanced yoga, if you so choose.