Well according to a random website I found (http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/info/why-practice-yoga.asp), here are a few reasons:
- Yoga relaxes the body and the mind.
- Yoga can help normalize body weight.
- Yoga improves your resistance to disease.
- Yoga increases your energy level and productivity.
- Yoga leads to genuine inner contentment and self-actualization.
I don’t disagree with any of those, but I wanted to add a few other ideas. Here are some hypotheses, that me and a friend came up with on why yoga is increasing in popularity:
- To be trendy. Yoga has been “in” for several years. This includes expensive memberships and fancy pants yoga clothes, and fancy pants yoga gear/equipment. I am amazed by how expensive some exercise clothes are. I am also amazed by how put together people often look at these yoga classes. They get all cleaned up, like I would if I was going on a big date! Although yoga does not want you to be competitive, my friend and I hypothesized that many folks enjoy competing against others and themselves.
- To improve their performance or experience (wink wink, in other ways, not just improving their half marathon personal bests!).
- Because you can see improvement fairly quickly in regards to these poses. Literally each time they are a bit easier.
- To be touched – I personally love hands on adjustments or enhancements, when the instructor comes around and helps align you or gives you a mini massage….heaven. The power of human contact and touch!!!
My yoga history: So in previous posts I have mentioned that I am trying to get in to yoga. I have done yoga about 1-2x a year since I was 16, and never really got in to it, most of the time I would get discouraged that I can’t touch my toes, then I would hold my breathe for the full hour grimacing in pain and boredom….but not anymore my friends, times are a changing. Here are my favorite new moves all of which make me feel strong and calm (although, I don’t remember some of these being called these names?):
{Pics by
- Corpse Pose
2. Legs Up The Wall Pose
3. Lord of the Dance Pose – I am shockingly good at this one – woot woot!
4. Child’s Pose, I love being in a tiny ball. I want to see if I can fit in to a small box
5. Wide Leg forward bend
6. Handstand (against a wall obvi)
You might notice several of them are pretty passive – hence why I love it, I am workin out while resting at the same time – WINNING!!
One day, I might just do some of these:
So basically if I keep this up, I might be able to do some of these crazy poses. AAANDDD If public health does not work out, I could join cirque de soleil!
A couple questions for you?
Do you love or hate yoga (or somewhere in the middle) and why?If you love yoga, what is your favorite pose?
Any great yoga DVD's out there?
8 comments:
I just got home from yoga so I figured I must read this post and comment! I love it, love love love.
I have no fancy yoga clothes and basically go in some workout pants and a tank top.
I really like hearing the pose names in the sanskrit and am trying to memorize more of them, so here's my fav list in both:
Ardha Navāsana (half boat)
Eka Pada Kapotasana (pigeon) Trikonasana (triangle)
Garudasana (eagle...though I can only cross once still)
And of course my absolute favorite is savasana (corpse). The worse part is when they say, "come back to your body now" ... no! I am so relaxed. Please teleport me home.
I would love to be able to do a really good Ardha Candrāsana (half-moon) or Camatkarasana (wild thing).
:) Erica
Gaya, I hear you girl. I really want to get into yoga because I'm a runner and I hear it would be great for me. So, when I was jobless in France, I started doing yoga while my husband was at work (with the blinds drawn, nobody wants to see that!). Anyway, I grew up playing high intensity sports and I think it rubs off on my yoga moves because I literally broke my yoga mat! I want to be good at this, but I just don't know how!
@Erica - you are right - wild thing is awesome!!!I had to google search it to remind myself what it is! I am impressed you like half boat - hard stuff!
@Allison - I miss you chica! I loved your wedding pics - sooo beautiful! Are you back in France? I am impressed you can do yoga on your own, I would just cheat and not hold any poses!
Since I just took my very first yoga class last night I had to post! I have never had any interest in yoga but a girl my church group is really into it and talked us all into going to her Bikram Yoga class. She got us in for free the first time, which is basically why I went. Well, that and curiosity.
I had heard horror stories about how hot it would be so I was very prepared. Because I was terrified based on those stories, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I kind of liked it. But, I'm not really itching to go back because while it wasn't that bad, I didn't fall in love with it. I guess I don't see how it could really help me that much, but I am open to learning more about it and possibly trying again. Basically, I too am interested in your question "Why do people do yoga?" I still don't really know.
Thing is, it's $16 a class! Seriously? I already have an annual membership to a community rec center and to a Zumba studio, so I don't really want to add anything else on to that.
And a few other random tidbits:
1. I was told it'd be really good for my arthritis and that people's arthritis goes away when they do yoga. Yeah, not really buying that when I have the type of arthritis where your immune system is attacking itself.
2. We were told to wear as little clothes as possible since it's so hot. I have no problem wearing a bikini to the pool, but to work out in front of a bunch of other people where you are supposed to stare at yourself in the mirror the entire 90 minutes - that's different. I was a little uneasy about that. But then again, it was so hot I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!
3. I drank more water that usual the entire day before the class to prepare myself and took two bottles of water into the class. I felt fine during the class, but like 2 hours later I got quite a horrible headache. I'm assuming it was just dehydration because I like sweat out my entire body during that class. I drank two more glasses of water when I got home but ended up having to take some Advil because it wasn't going away. I really don't want to get a headache if I go again.
Ok, probably way more info than you wanted, but I thought I'd share my experience. Good luck with your yoga adventure, Gaya. I'm not sure yet if my yoga adventure has quickly begun and ended or if it's only the beginning!
Erin
I've not done Yoga since Carolina, but I loved it. We would go twice a week and you could really tell a difference. Maybe I'll look into getting back into it again. I haven't found a DVD I like and I've had a lot.
@Erin - hot yoga is a pretty intense way of starting out yoga. I agree about the outfits and mirrors. Keep me posted if you do another class
@Geoff - chapel hill is where all good stuff starts. Keep me posted if you find a good DVD!
After my college yoga instructor told us about his involvement in a 'sexual yoga band'(including, oh my, painting his body silver and using oil), I had a hard time clearing my mind after that. It is true that some 'gurus' are clearly cult leaders in the making.
Ten years later, I've tentatively gotten back into yoga and dig the flow style. I don't like weird stuff like "yoga crunches." There is a $7 a class studio across the street from my apartment so it can't be beat!
I remain vigilant, however. Constant vigilance.
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