My Yoga Journey

In my class this week we learned how to breathe and control it. The instructor went step by step and walked us through it which I liked because I had no idea what I was doing. She started out having us either sit crossed legged or lay down flat. Next, she had us put one hand on our rib cage and the other on or stomach. We then were told to focus on our breathe and really listen to it. How when we took a deep breathe in our stomach hugged our rib cage. The we brought our hand to our collar bone and felt our chest life with every breathe. We repeated this several times and with each time we tried to take less breathes and hold it in for longer. At first this was a struggle for me because I was running late and couldn't catch my breathe as is. But, after a while I saw the point in it. I felt totally in control of my body. I realized that through my yoga journey the classes where we focused on our breathing were the ones I took the most from.

As more and more doctors are recommending yoga for a variety of health conditions, the physically therapeutic benefits have become indisputable. However, Yoga Therapy can also be approached from a spiritual rather than physical standpoint, addressing holistic needs in mind and soul as well as body. Through the spiritual approach, the entire science of yoga as written about in the Yoga Sutras is employed, not just the physically restorative postures.  If we have an injury or suffer from chronic pain, the body must be addressed. Similar to physical therapy, yoga movements can significantly decrease pain and suffering, and help regain vital energy. According to the Yoga Sutras, the final aspect of Yoga Therapy is the true point of it all - The exploration of our spiritual nature. Classical sacred texts from many traditions acknowledge that human beings have a Divine energy within. The Yoga Sutras declare it is because of our ignorance of this truth that most of our problems in life o...

So here we are again doing the thing I love to do, meditate! I posted a few weeks ago how this really helped me stay calm in a crazy time in my life. Meditation is definitely a huge part of my yoga practice. Once I got over my perceptions of it and realized how helpful and life saving it was, I try to practice it as much as I can. In class today we had someone come in a help us do a meditation practice. I fell asleep. BUT before that I felt so calm. I really enjoyed what he spoke about before the meditation also and use it in my everyday life. He said something along the lines of the more you avoid suffering, the more prominent it becomes and instead you need to face it head on. That really stuck with me. My life has been a crazy one and Ive been through a lot for someone my age. A few years ago I was diagnosed with skin cancer, Melanoma. My life since then has been different because I have to be so careful everyday the sun touches my body. I am covered in not the prettiest of scars an...

What is yoga? To me yoga is a way to release and let go of everything in my life. In the yoga sutras it lays out 8 limbs of yoga which lead to the release which is a state of yoga. This state is defined in the sutras in chapter 1 verse 3 "then the seer abides itself, resting in its own true nature, which is called self realization." (Yoga sutras 1.3). This is also known as enlightenment where the mind is almost completely still and no longer have any remaining thoughts. Yoga is when you become the master of your thoughts and they no longer control you. I think this plays a role in every day life as well. People go through tough times in their life and it can be hard to get a handle on it and stop thinking about it constantly. Yoga helps with that I've found. Yoga can be a way out and save people. This is why it is so addictive. It has healing powers that people are just drawn to.

If you ask me yoga is 100% a lifestyle and culture. I actually think it can be even cult like in certain types of yoga. We watched a lot of videos in class about how yoga changed from what it used to be which was a male dominated practice to how in the west it is now more female dominated with added sex appeal. Today, all yoga propaganda is, is videos of hot women wearing Lulu Lemon. That is not what yoga used to be so why did it change? I don't really know the answer to that, but I agree. In my own life I have seen how yoga can be taken as more of a "chick thing." When I talk to my guy friends about taking a class with me they tend to laugh in my face and try to touch their toes. I try to tell them how many athletes do yoga and how great it can be for them especially when it comes to stretching. I think that mor men should try to do yoga because of the many benefits it has. I was pretty against it at first to, but I may regret saying this but I think I might be turning i...

My next yoga class I decided to try a gentle yoga class again at Root Yoga located in Manalapan, NJ. I have a friend who regularly practices yoga and she talks nonstop about this type of yoga so I thought why not! When I walked in to the classroom, I really liked how the teacher had such calming music playing. I could have taken a nap right then and there! I like when the teacher has this type of music playing because it puts me in the proper head space and I believe it relaxes my body and makes me more flexible; which I desperately need. During this class we worked on poses such as downward dog, cobra and seal. I liked these poses because it pushed me just enough without going over the edge. I am still very new at this so I do not want to push myself too hard and get discouraged. One thing I really liked about this class was the breathing. To get started we did these breathing exersize that calmed me down. We started by taking big deep breathes and counting down from 10 and releasing ...