A yoga teacher has taken it upon herself to educate beginners about the simple mistakes most of them make during their practice thanks to comparative Instagram pictures.
Martina Rando, of Milan, Italy is an accredited yoga teacher with 252,000 followers on the platform, where she shares her illustrated tips.
Many of her posts consist in side-by-side photos of Martina performing the same yoga pose, once with classic mistakes and once with correct posture.
Tips: Yoga teacher Martina Rando has taken it upon herself to educate beginners about the simple mistakes most of them thanks to comparative Instagram pictures
Spot the differences: Many of Martina’s posts consist in side-by-side photos of herself performing the same yoga pose, once with classic mistakes and once with correct posture
Slowly: Yogis who cannot perform an asana, rather than trying to force their body into the posture, are encouraged to find intermediate options while working towards the full pose
The goal is to show people the pitfalls they might encounter, and how they can remedy them to fully reap the benefits from their practice and avoid injuring themselves.
Recently, she demonstrated the wheel pose, highlighting the importance of keeping an open chest and engaging the muscles of the inner thighs.
Martina, who divides each of her photos into an ‘avoid’ and a ‘try’ or ‘yes’ category, advised her followers to steer clear from bent elbows and dropping shoulders, while opening their chest and keeping their toes and knees from splaying out.
She told them to pay attention to their spine and engage the muscles in their inner thighs.
Moves: Martina has also detailed the secrets of an optimal downward dog, telling her followers to avoid pushing their hips up and to keep their shoulders from moving forward
Practice: The yoga teacher, who was born in 1991, explained on her website that she started exercising regularly in 2015 and tried yoga while pursuing a more balanced lifestyle
Posture: Martina often tells her followers how to keep certain parts of her body in alignment while performing specific poses
In her post, Martina also highlighted how using blocks can help beginners to ease into the wheel pose, pointing out how being patient can lead to the best results.
Yogis who cannot perform an asana, rather than trying to force their body into the posture, are encouraged to find intermediate options while slowly working towards the full pose.
Martina has also detailed the secrets of an optimal downward dog, telling her followers to avoid pushing their hips up and to keep their shoulders from moving forward.
To beginners, she recommended bending their knees and pushing their chest towards their thighs.
Pitfalls: In this specific pose, Martina highlighted the importance to avoid pushing the hips up while keeping the core muscles from giving in
Impressive: Martina’s long hours of practice show in her posts, which showcase her flexibility
Angles: In another post dedicated to the bridge pose, Martina showed how important a relaxed neck and an open chest are, while elbows pointing outwards can be detrimental
More advanced yogis, meanwhile, can push their heels towards the ground and aim to form a straight line with their upper body from their wrists to their hips while pushing their navel in and gazing at it, Martina indicated in one of her posts.
The yoga teacher, who was born in 1991, explained on her website that she started exercising regularly in the summer of 2015 and tried yoga while pursuing a more balanced lifestyle.
She immediately loved the practice and after getting her master’s degree, became qualified as a yoga teacher, determined to invest more time into her passion.
In addition to her comparative photos, she also regularly shares videos of her own practices, as relaxing yoga sequences and photos of herself performing poses in various settings.