Yoga

[Gregor]

my missus want me to do yoga cos i'm totally stiff and have back prolems. i want to too but cant be botheresd . i nee to ort h out

[missmaralaena]

Yay to seeing this yoga support!

I've practiced on and off for about 7 years now, and my sister is actually a teacher. My personal favorites are ashtanga and yin, which are basically complete opposites, but both very much about technique, correct breathing etc. I don't need to get fancy, or maybe that is fancy...I don't know. I'm a fan, that's all.

[Recyclebjnx]

i have been practicing yoga on and off for about a year or so now. When I was younger I gave it a try, but it never stuck.

[iowagirl]

Have done 4 days of the 108 day program of Ultimate Yogi. That's 4 days in the past 9 days. It's pretty intense so I had to take a few days off in between, and then had a couple busy nights. Today was the Yin day, which I've never done before. I could've done it yesterday if I'd known what it was. Was awesome, I loved it, even tho it showed me how sooo not flexible I am! I felt like rubber after. Felt good.

[joakim urma]

Going to bump this thread because I find it interesting. How's the yoga coming along ya'll?

I did a short hatha yoga course this fall but didn't devote myself enough to it to practice alone in between lessons. That was a eye opener for me, I could not find that 30 calm minutes I needed during the weeks. So I quit one of my jobs and now I feel much better. From my short brush with yoga I really enjoyed trying out the poses. I've been skating for something like 12 years, so for me the poses became "tricks" that I wanted to master. Much like skating I don't care to show of or put too much effort into learning "better" tricks, but I want to make my tricks (in this case: poses) feel as good as possible and push them until I do it right.

However, since the course ended I have not been doing any yoga. I plan to get back into it slowly when my life gets a bit more calm. I really liked the teacher I had, his way of explaining and his attitude towards the whole thing. So since three weeks back I am doing a yogic meditation course with the same teacher. This time I am more committed and try to spend 30 minutes, 5-6 times a week. It is so amazing and interesting to me, and so different from my normal day to day life. It's crazy the things you will notice and discover while trying to "do nothing". I feel like I am learning a lot from this experience and I am only half way through the course. I am beginning to notice very subtle changes in my life and personality and I believe the meditation practice plays a part in this. I look forward to keep practicing on my own and I think re-starting with the yoga will help me a lot in this challenge too.

[jimmyirish]

@mmikaoj, how is the yogic meditation course going man? I started doing yoga in a serious and committed way about a year and a half ago- I was feeling stressed out with work and conflicted in my personal life. I found that I couldn't think these problems away, and so after taking to my mum (who has done yoga for over 30yrs) I decided to attend a local studio. At first I found the whole experience quite uncomfortable, physically because I was very stiff and almost every posture hurt, and also because I felt uneasy with the spiritual side of the practice.

I also had the exact same thing as you about viewing the postures and asanas as moves that had to be accomplished- like if I couldn't do an inversion like a handstand or headstand and other people in the class could then I was inadequate compared to them. But what I came to realise, was that it really has nothing to do with any of that. You leave your ego about your body at the door, and whether the guy next to you can do this or that doesn't matter, it doesn't even matter if you could do something yesterday and can't do it today- that's just the ebb and flow of things and you may well be ready to do that posture again tomorrow.

Being kind to myself in this way is one of the most important values I have learnt from yoga. I now practice ashtanga and vinyasa yoga 6 times a week and will hopefully begin my teacher training in the autumn. If you need any advice about where to start to get back into it I'd be really happy to help.

[joakim urma]

@jimmyirish It's cool and inspiring to hear about your practice! It's so fascinating and fruitful to bridge the gap between body and mind, and to go deeper into both. For me, and my short trial with hatha yoga, the postures were not tricks in way that I wanted to compete with others. It was more like they coaxed me to keep trying and to feel good about myself when I "landed" something. The patience, humble attitude and work ethic I all ready had from 12+ years of skateboarding. But yeah, I hope to get back into it. I moved out of my old commune house that I shared with four friends, and now that I live with only my girlfriend I have more space and calmness around me.

The yogic meditation I can really recommend. I'm on the last of my 8 weeks course now and soon I'll be on my own. I feel that it's been a great learning experience and a good challenge. While you should not try to analyze and tinker with your own philosophy while you are meditating, I feel that the practice taught me a lot about my life and how to have a positive attitude towards all sorts of things. You find yourself discovering patterns of thoughts and behaviors, that you have while trying to meditate but also outside. And many of the things you need to learn focus on while meditating, and the thoughts and expectations you place on it, I feel has helped me a lot in thinking about my life journey. I don't know, it sounds like new age bullshit, I for sure would have thought 3 months ago, but after having had these experiences I can understand what I just wrote.

[LeodrMac88]

yoga is my source of energy, it really inspires me to be purposeful, to be kind, generous, to be myself, there are many techniques to try

[Incemoon18]

I've been practicing yoga for more than 6 years, I've learnt some basic techniques, however there are so many and diverse that you have your whole life to be taught and know yourself better. Moreover, it relieves stress perfectly...

[chappyhm]

I've personally been practicing pranayama techniques in order to get to know all yoga techniques better and understand how it all works, the core of yoga and our living is breathing, it's fundamental, to tell you the truth, pranayama teaches us to breathe correctly, not only in yoga, but it real life as well. Yoga itself and all techniques included in yoga practices are mostly about our lives, our perception, feelings and soul. Every beginner should understand this.

Edited December 25, 2020 by chappyhm