Yoga

Now that we are a few days into the Erin Motz 30 Day Yoga Challenge, it has prompted me to ponder upon my relationship with the discipline.

Yoga was something I discovered when I started going to the gym in 2013.  I had, of course, heard of yoga before that, and understood the basic principles of the discipline, but had never seriously practiced before my first yoga class at the gym.

I was determined to give this "yoga thing" a chance when I saw that there were a few classes scheduled on the gym timetable.  From the first class, I was hooked.  I found it quite difficult in the beginning, and I often got really frustrated with myself and my very inflexible body.  It's the common mistake a newbie makes:  they think everybody else in the class is progressing through the practice effortlessly and that they are the only person in the room who is struggling.  A lesson I learned quite early on is that everybody is at different stages in their progression and in their journey.
Where an individual is at the moment is the exact place and space they are meant to be.  It's counter-productive to look around the room to see who is deeper into the posture than I am and who is struggling more than I am.

During one's practice, one moves through several flowing sequences of movement and postures, and these challenge the body in different ways.  A particular yogic posture (called an "asana") could prove to be challenging for the body, and one has to work with one's breath, one's muscles and, most importantly, one's mind, to be able to both relax into the pose as well as to be able to tolerate feelings of discomfort in certain parts of the body.  The way to enjoy the journey is to appreciate each stage of one's progression and to celebrate the small steps one makes towards achieving a pose.

Another important lesson is to feel each pose in every part of your body - feel the stretch in certain muscles, feel the tension in other muscles, feel the movements the body makes as it adjusts to each pose, and feel the way the breath moves into and out of the body.  This is what it means to bring awareness to one's body.  This is what it means to be mindful of the self.

Yoga offers life lessons to an aware and receptive practitioner.

My research tells me that Hatha Yoga seems to be the most widely practiced form of yoga and is the branch of yoga which concentrates on physical health and mental well-being.  Hatha Yoga incorporates postures and conscious breathing (Pranayama) in combination with mental focus to develop awareness, strength and flexibility, and relaxation.  Through proper alignment and mindful actions of the body, Hatha Yoga brings balance, strength, and a sense of well-being to the practitioner.  Flow-Based Hatha Yoga uses movement and breath together to produce a "flow" of postures that lead from one to the next.

There is so much information online, and it behooves any yoga enthusiast to do a bit of reading if only to clear up misconceptions and misinformation.

"Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured."
~ B. K. S. Iyengar

Information on Hatha Yoga was found here:
http://www.yogayoga.com/classes/hatha-flow

This is by no means a definitive list of yoga resources.  All one has to do is enter "yoga" into a search engine and the myriad of search results provide a wealth of information.

Additional reading:
http://greatist.com/fitness/ultimate-guide-yoga-lingo

http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/yoga-questions-answered/

http://www.yogajournal.com/article/health/count-yoga-38-ways-yoga-keeps-fit/

xoxo

Foxy