Yoga

[HaydenRose]

This thread may die a quick, boring death, but I thought I'd give it a try...

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. From a young age for about 10 or so years I studied ballet and other forms of dance, but eventually lost interest not by choice, but from going to college, moving a lot, being poor, getting out of shape, etc. So about a year ago, frustrated with all of my attempts at fitness (walking, running, gyms, kickboxing, etc.) I decided to revisit yoga and WOW did I fall in love. I was amazed with the benefits I felt instantly and also how applicable my history of dance was. Since then, I've been practising at home off and on (mainly breaking for tattoos) and really working on bringing it into my every day life. Yoga is so vast, and extends way beyond the asanas, so its been a big life changer for me as I immerse myself in it. A possible goal for me is to *maybe* get to a point where I can study to be a yoga teacher and incorporate it into my counseling practice with youth.

I have met a few tattooed people who are instructors and enthusiasts. So there must be some involved in LST's growing community. I'm not sure what sort of thread this will or will not turn into, but perhaps it can be a place to share our experience and practice of yoga, share tips and resources for yoga, and refer fellow yogis to studios and teachers nearby.

[Delicious]

Yoga interests me, but I am honestly, truly to fat for it.

Would love to do it if I slimmed down some, I danced in high school for 4 years, and even though I was pretty much the same weight then, I was super flexible because of it. It made my body feel great.

The only downside is, about dance and becoming flexible and skilled like that, is that they never tell you how your body feels when you stop. I cramp alot easier now, my body hurts in places it used to be super flexible, especially when it gets cold. I've also got a nice pulled hamstring, that while it's back to normal, and I got it back to being flexible after I hurt it, still hurts me to this day, in certain situations.

Maybe yoga would help me with that, who knows?

[reverend1]

I've been doing yoga for three years, it's probably the best thing I've done for my overall fitness level.

[TrixieFaux]

Yoga is the one and only exercise I continue to do regularly without getting bored of it or coming up with excuses not to do it. I started out trying a couple different basic hatha yoga classes and then found Bikram which I've been practicing for about 10 years. I know Bikram C. (the man) is a very controversial figure with all the lawsuits and well, a lot of people hate him... but man aside, the practice has been amazing for me, I love it. It is so challenging every time even after all these years and I can see & feel the difference it has made in my body. There are poses that are supposed to help prevent things like arthritis...hope it's true! I was very into ballet as a kid, too. One thing I love about Bikram that is similar to ballet is the discipline. There are a lot of fellow tattooed people in my classes.

[iowagirl]

I started practicing a couple years ago. There are no classes here, the town is too small, so I use dvd's. Don't have very many tho. I enjoy it-the time seems to go by so quickly, I suppose b/c I'm so caught up in trying to pay attention to what I'm doing, my brain can't wander off. I'm not overly flexible..my hips are tight and have this weirdness that I've never been able to figure out, it's like they "catch" when I'm doing certain things. Sometimes I can't work thru that catch and holy moly is it painful. Yoga makes me feel good. I get off track sometimes, if we've got stuff going on during my yoga time I don't practice for a week or so.

I've lost about 20 pounds from when I first started practicing a couple years ago and can tell a difference in being able to do the movements easier/better.

Are there yoga dvd's devoted specifically to the different practices, like a Bikram one or..what's another kind, Ashtanga?

I wasn't in dance as a child, tho I wished I had been, maybe I wouldn't be so non-flexible and non-graceful.

[HaydenRose]

I started practicing a couple years ago. There are no classes here, the town is too small, so I use dvd's. Don't have very many tho. I enjoy it-the time seems to go by so quickly, I suppose b/c I'm so caught up in trying to pay attention to what I'm doing, my brain can't wander off. I'm not overly flexible..my hips are tight and have this weirdness that I've never been able to figure out, it's like they "catch" when I'm doing certain things. Sometimes I can't work thru that catch and holy moly is it painful. Yoga makes me feel good. I get off track sometimes, if we've got stuff going on during my yoga time I don't practice for a week or so.

I've lost about 20 pounds from when I first started practicing a couple years ago and can tell a difference in being able to do the movements easier/better.

Are there yoga dvd's devoted specifically to the different practices, like a Bikram one or..what's another kind, Ashtanga?

I wasn't in dance as a child, tho I wished I had been, maybe I wouldn't be so non-flexible and non-graceful.

I know what you mean about your leg "catching" is it like where your hip connects to your leg? My right leg does it when I do leg lifts in yoga and actually was super painful and stuck the last time I got tattooed.

As for DVDs, I frequent yogajournal.com. I've done their 21 day fitness challenge which has a lot of ashtanga and faster paced practice. Right now I'm doing the regular 21 day challenge at intermediate and it has a wide range of styles and intensities. I think both of those you can buy as DVDs, but I'm cheap, so I just store the videos in my email.

@Delicious, check this video out.

The great thing about yoga is size doesn't matter! And you can start out just doing 10-15 minutes a day and work your way up.

[hogg]

Paging our very own yogi @dari to thread!

[Brock Varty]

I like yoga pants...

[exume]

I'd like to get back into yoga, been a couple years but I really liked it

[iowagirl]

Hayden, yep, where the hip connects to the leg. There've been times in the movie theater that I have to stretch my legs (strange for me b/c I'm only 5 ft tall) b/c it will start hurting. One time in Menards my husband was being a smart ass, I was walking behind him, so I pulled my leg up and kicked him in the ass-and it made that catch, so then I couldn't move. Sometimes if I stretch it while I'm walking it will click back into place but that time it didn't. It was horrible. Limping along muttering omg omg omg and swearing under my breath, I know I looked like an idiot.

I'll check out yogajournal.com, thanks for the tip!

Delicious, when I first started, I could barely sit on the floor Indian Style...it's just about trying and getting your body moving and stretching. It feels amazing, seriously--when I first started I couldn't get over how good it felt, and how good *I* felt. It makes you stand up taller and feel better about yourself.

Right now I have a couple Sarah Ivanhoe dvd's that have 6 20 minute workouts on them. Kathryn Buddig's Aim True, which has a 25 min. and a 45 min workout. I get a charge out of her, she's really about making it fun. I also have Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown, which isn't "real" yoga but it's fun. And the P90X yoga dvd...that one is hard to do b/c it's 90 minutes, so hard to find time to fit that in.

[Graeme]

[cltattooing]

Also danced through high school, and I really do miss stretching. I've done some yoga here and there, but have never stuck with it as a practice. I think now is the time in my life to actually pick it up. My roommate has done a lot of Bikram, and she was showing me a few poses the other night. It was amazing. I slept without any discomfort that night and woke up with so much more energy than I usually have. Like.. mornings are an obstacle in my day.

I actually read this thread and was like fuck, I'm gonna go stretch! I'm for it :)

[kylegrey]

I really like it and have been attended classes for the last three months . I feel it perfectly compliments the other training I do and just generally makes you feel good .

[Delicious]

@iowagirl and cltattooing, I do know how good it feels to stretch.... Like everything becomes so loose and fluid. I used to be able to do the splits all ways, do roll throughs and pancakes... definitely considering going back now... this thread does pique my interest

[Kahlan]

@Delicious - Don't ever say you're 'too fat' for something. That's what yoga or anything physical is for, is to bring you balance physically and mentally. Never give yourself limitations. Pains me to read that.

Yoga lets you be more in touch with yourself, and I'll even bring it a step further and suggest meditation.

It's hard to get into at first but the best time to try is after a work-out since you're exhausted afterwards anyway. :)

I miss doing splits too. :P Working on it but I wanna die everytime haha

[HaydenRose]

@Delicious - Don't ever say you're 'too fat' for something. That's what yoga or anything physical is for, is to bring you balance physically and mentally. Never give yourself limitations. Pains me to read that.

Yoga lets you be more in touch with yourself, and I'll even bring it a step further and suggest meditation.

It's hard to get into at first but the best time to try is after a work-out since you're exhausted afterwards anyway. :)

I miss doing splits too. :P Working on it but I wanna die everytime haha

That's what is so great about yoga, is that it is a workout, an experience with your self and spirit, and meditation all at the same time. All of the practices I've done end with savasana (hope I spelled that right) for about 2-5 minutes of blissful relaxation and breathing. Meditating is so much stronger and more focused after a yoga practice, I love it!

[slayer9019]

I don't know why but yoga seems to be becoming very popular recently.

[briankelly]

i started going to kundalini yoga a little over a year ago. i've found that it helps me feel better physically. i never knew my hips were so tight until i started doing it! i figured if it was good enough for Aleister Crowley is was good enough for me..

[Pugilist]

I have become an annoying yoga hippie over the past six months or so. I've done it on and off since I was 16, but since I started practicing at a nearby studio recently, it's really "clicked" for me. I have been going regularly since the spring, and it has done wonders for my sense of well-being. I take a regular hatha class that is a pretty perfect combo of asana and more meditative elements, like chanting and breathing exercises. I think I'm at a point in my life where I am attracted to the mental benefits of it as much as the physical, making the whole thing feel a lot more "crucial" and not just a cool exercise class. I have some stress-related health problems and getting into both yoga and acupuncture recently have done more for me then the medication I was on for years (and which I have now kicked). I do find yoga really, really tough, but I feel like it's good for me to be bad at something and work really hard to improve. Actually, this week I did my first successful inversions - both a headstand and a crow! Felt euphoric!

@Delicious, yoga can be so, so intimidating for folks who do not look like Lululemon models so I feel you, but actually yoga for round bodies is an emerging field and there are more and more people who are trying to make yoga culture feel more inclusive, both in terms of attitude, and in terms of finding modifications and poses that suit larger bodies better. I hate that yoga can feel so intimidating because it should be the opposite, but I have struggled through this as well, and it has been worth it. This website and blog is fantastic for helping bigger folks get into yoga: Yoga for Your Body | Curvy Yoga

[TrixieFaux]

Just to echo these guys, @Delicious, there are all shapes and sizes and ages in my classes. They always say the yoga meets you where you are...everyone is at a different ability level...

Some people say, oh I can't do yoga because I'm not flexible, which is crazy because that's what yoga helps you with...over time you become flexible. Over time, difficult poses get easier and your body can change.

After 10 yrs there are still many poses I can't do (to their full expression)...but I just keep at it and there are some I can do that once seemed impossible.

[iowagirl]

It's a great feeling of accomplishment when you are able to do something you couldn't before. The first time I did the 25 minute practice dvd, I was sweating buckets and falling all over, and kind of irritated that I used to be in great shape and at that time couldn't do a lot of things b/c my stomach was in the way, or my legs were so big I couldn't cross them. But it doesn't matter-every time you practice, you're getting better at it w/out even realizing it. It does wonders releasing endorphins and making you feel good about yourself. Another nice thing about it is, as mentioned above, shape/size/age-none of it matters. You can have 20 different people doing the same position and have twenty different levels.

And the splits, Delicious? Holy buckets I've never been able to do them!

[Pugilist]

For you guys:

[deadsp0t]

For you guys:

Haha that's pretty damn cool ;)

[Riyko]

I love yoga and i've been doing it for 6 years now on and off, I stopped for a little over a year after i had my daughter and lost my dad, but now i'm back into it and I love it :3

[iowagirl]

I just got this The Ultimate Yogi > The All-In-One Yoga DVD & Fitness Program not sure what it's like yet, hoping to start it this weekend. It's about an hour a day..so I need to either start getting up at 4:30 or make myself do it when I get home from work.