This course is not intended for beginners, since it is necessary to master asanas in person under the direct supervision of an instructor. Here we give an algorithm for building a personal complex of asanas, which can be used by middle-level practitioners. After about a year of study in groups, there is a desire to practice at home, since most of the basic asanas have already been mastered. But there remains a misunderstanding of how to correctly compose sequences taking into account individual characteristics and the situation as a whole. Often there is an additional problem when the recommendations of different instructors do not coincide, and the student has to make his own choice.

When you have at least a few dozen carefully studied asanas in your arsenal, you can start combining them according to your inclinations and tasks. This course will help you organize asanas according to the main criteria of impact on the physical body. Most yoga teachers include four categories of asanas in their daily complexes - standing, sitting, lying and inverted poses. In each of them, it is further possible to distinguish varieties of qualitative effects on the body (tension, balance, etc.), as well as key elements of changing the position of the body in space (bends, twists. etc.), which are detailed with different positions of the legs and arms.

The simple performance of separate asanas does not constitute a complex, so this course pays special attention to the preparation for practice and its completion. A high-quality start and end of a workout increases its effectiveness, so it is better to do fewer asanas with a competent construction of the complex than to do a lot of asanas simply by spending a large amount of energy. In addition, we focus on the main differences between yoga and gymnastics, which is why body exercises turn from ordinary physical education into an instrument of subtle influence on one's own emotions and mindset. Concentration of attention combined with deep relaxation is the key to success in practice.

It is assumed that middle-level practitioners have long solved health problems and do not have contraindications in the form of medical diagnoses that may prevent admission to practice.

Maria V. Nikolaeva (Atma Ananda, Shanti Nathini) is the author of several popular books on yoga, translated into English since 2007 and still available on Amazon. She is also the author of more than 30 books and 300 articles in other languages. Having received a Master's degree in Philosophy, specializing in Oriental studies, she spent 12 years in 10 countries of Southeast Asia, studying with more than 50 teachers, has been teaching and consulting in European countries since 2009,relying on three decades of her personal practical experience.

All exercises are demonstrated by the 50-year-old author of the course.

Cover photo: the author in Spain (2019).