What comes to your head when you think of yoga? Are you thinking of meditation in some mountains, or forest? What is yoga to you?
A few people have been very clear- ‘Yoga is not for me, it’s too slow.’, ‘Yoga isn’t very interesting it’s for people who have to deal with stress.’ There are many versions of this. My version was ‘Yoga makes me sleepy and tired.’
I have been practicing yoga on and off for about 10 years, and it’s something I swear by. When I started off I was still studying and I was hating the idea of my dad forcing me into it. It was a challenge for my teacher (Miss Dolly) to get me to close my eyes. The soreness was like a part of my body and I tried my level best to evade the class.
Today I can sit with my eyes closed and not want to get out of it at all. It’s made my muscles strong and flexible, helped me maintain a good posture. It’s been a journey with a number of places and teachers I learnt yoga from. We have to try different forms of yoga, which suits us and it’s best to go with one teacher because they can help us improve from where we left off.
The whole idea of Yoga being very boring, I don’t get it better than anyone, but it’s something that needs to rub off on you. Once you start seeing the results you will never stop practicing yoga.
Yoga doesn’t really preach you to sit in the forest or mountains or seclude yourself. Yoga is about the balance. Yoga is for everybody and can be done anywhere. It has to be done as per your own physical state and limits, and there will only be things to take back.
Yoga for me has been all about accepting who you are and getting to know yourself better. It’s like your exploring time, where you are and where you need to get, how you feel and letting go of what’s not needed and being more alert, balance. There is so much to this art I feel like I’m just getting started with yoga now.
Yoga is unique in its knowledge of breathing techniques. Breathing techniques are something more deep and there is a different science to it that we are unaware of as beginners but we cannot underestimate its’ power. We have to completely trust our teacher and follow the instructions to feel the benefits.
Hatha Yoga is really good and I really like the Iyengar form of yoga. Then there are others like the Kundalini yoga, Pranayama, Yin-Yang, Hot Yoga. I’ve had really bad experiences too, like this person who taught power yoga once, it just didn’t feel right. You’ve got to go with your gut feeling, and try out another place or with another teacher till you find your balance.
If you’re into other sports or workouts and you feel you’re already a pro, so you don’t need to yoga. Trust me, it will help you improve your form and it’s the best to mix a little bit yoga into your routine. The co-ordination of movement with breadth makes all the difference.
You may be really happy and stress free yoga may seem totally not needed, but there are times when we are not aware of what emotions or mind-blocks we are holding on to. May be physical mind blocks even, it can help in bringing it up and letting go of it.
Yoga means Union, a balance between things, and if this piece of information hasn’t got you interested please checkout the links below to be more enlightened and give yourself the opportunity to see what yoga can do to you!
http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/yoga-questions-answered/
http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/which-yoga-is-right-for-you-2/
https://www.instagram.com/kinoyoga/
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That’s an interesting take, “yoga is a union, a balance between things”. When people ask me what yoga means to me, I answer, Yoga somehow makes me feel fulfilled and content. I never had the feeling of satisfaction before and yoga does that. But it is an enigma for me, I will slowly find out what it means to me. Great post!
🙏🏽🙂