My yoga practice

I have been doing a combination of Hatha, Iyengar and Vinyasa for about five years since giving up my karate practice.  I decided to begin yoga as a new form of exercise to replace karate.  Despite practising karate (Kin Bushi Rye) for five years and getting my black belt, I realised that I was growing tired of the injuries, aches and pains and that as a woman I would like to do something more feminine.   So my goal now is to continue with a combination of walking and yoga to provide me with what I need to remain healthy and fit.

During my recent pregnancies I had a break from yoga too as I neither had the motivation or energy to engage in any sort of physical activity (continuous morning sickness will do that to you).

I have been doing yoga with a few different instructors not far from home.  Unfortunately a few of the instructors have finished their classes because of time, money and other influences in their lives.  I have really admired all of them.  They are nurturing types and totally amazing people.  My current instructor is Ann who is lovely and a little quirky too.  We practice at Trott Park Neighbourhood Centre only five minutes from home.

When practising my yoga, I feel the energy, emotions and angle of every movement in my body that helps to realign everything. It creates a flow through the body, an energising and relaxing to every part of my body and mind.

I tend to prefer classes with a teacher who can talk me through the different poses, and the energy of the people in the class is present too. I love the meditation side of it and the way it totally relaxes both the mind and the body. I remember one session being so relaxed in meditation that I heard myself starting to snore and also another time whilst sitting upright in a meditative position remaining in this removed state of consciousness for at least 25 minutes and not having any concept on time. It was just incredible.

Believe it or not Yoga is the ancient science of life that originated in India around 300BC.  So its been around a long time.  It is a practice of relaxation, meditation and stretching to realign and relax every part of the body.  The types of yoga include Hatha, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Bikram, Hot Yoga, and Kundalini. 

The benefits of yoga include flexibility through stretching, balance through holding poses, better circulation to organs and muscles, a relaxed mind and body, a positive outlook on life, feeling happy, some quiet time, better muscle tone, better breathing, reduced pain, stress reduction, mental calmness, and better body awareness.

The different asanas or otherwise poses we do include Mountain pose (Tadasana), raised arms pose, Warrior (Virabhadrasana), Extended Side Angle pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), Pyramid Pose (Parsvottonasana), Salute to the Sun (Surya Namaskara), Salute to the Moon (Chandra Namaskara), Child pose (Balasana), Downward facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), and many more.

I have found Iyengar yoga quite interesting as you tend to use props to assist in attaining ideal alignment, even if the body is not yet open enough. You can use a roll shape pillow called bolster, foam block and a strap to attain a perfect position whilst being supported. 

All of my yoga instructors have been into alternative natural health and therapies, and also Bowen therapists and remedial therapists. They are healers too.

I hope to be able to attend my yoga practice at least once a week but hope to do more once things have quietened down with raising to small children.  I've been attending on Thursday mornings and also Saturday mornings when I can.  I think its ideal to go at least twice a week, but if you do it once a week you can really feel the benefits although a few days before you the next practise you feel the need for more again.  I've been doing some yoga at home to help alleviate aches and pains too.

So I really appreciate and love yoga and all of the benefits.  It's just amazing. 

My long term goal is to gain a deeper level of yoga by understanding and knowing about the philosophical background and history of yoga to prepare and deepen the spiritual practice.

For more information about yoga see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga
http://yoga.about.com/
http://www.yogajournal.com/
http://www.yogaindailylife.org.au/