There is no doubt that yoga provides many health benefits to it's practitioners including strengthening of the core muscles, increased flexibility, and achieving better focus.
An important part of yoga that many beginners don't quite understand is the area of yoga meditation.
As your practice matures you will find that there are many yoga meditation techniques to master.
But as a beginner it is best to master the basics.
You may find that it is easier to maintain a meditative state while keeping your eyes fixed on a single object.
Keep your eyes focused on that one object for the duration of meditation.
This has a calming effect on the mind.
It is quite hard to stay relaxed and focused when you are looking all around.
Not only will this help you to become accustomed to the meditation, it will also enhance your balance.
Breathing is essential to your yoga practice.
Proper breathing will go a long way to helping you to increase your range of motion, achieve poses that you thought impossible, and allow you to enter a deeper state of meditation.
Try to focus solely on your breathing.
If you find your mind wandering, bring it back in and concentrate on breathing in and out.
These two tips are more important that you might realize.
In fact the cornerstone to any successful yoga practice and yoga meditation is proper breathing and maintaining focus.
If you attend a live class an instructor can work with you to further these techniques.
If attending live training isn't possible, then there are plenty of DVDs available.
In time you will find that yoga increases your strength and flexibility.
It will also allow you to enhance your calm and allow you to deal with stressful situations in a more relaxed way than ever before.
You will find that situations that used to stress you out or cause you anxiety seem much more petty now!