Learning about yoga

The subject of yoga is incredibly vast. It is a beautiful union of your body, mind and spirit. I feel the practice has literally changed me from the inside out, and given me a quieter mind, greater body awareness, and a way to heal and help myself when life inevitably gets sticky.

I’m always interested in people’s reactions to yoga whenever I bring it up in conversation or invite them to a class. One of the most common statements is: “Oh, yoga. I can’t do that. I’m not flexible enough.” Ah, you funny people! This is precisely the reason one might consider a yoga practice! To gain some crucial flexibility. The older we get, the more important it becomes.

Another one: “I can’t touch my toes.” Bend your knees a little, silly! Yoga is not about being able to touch your toes. Maybe you will, maybe you never will. Not important. Yoga will most likely eventually allow you to lengthen a bit more than you do now, thus creating that juicy bendiness.

One last one: “Don’t you just sit around and breathe?” Well, yes, there is a bit of that. And depending on the style of yoga you choose, there could be more than a little of that.

But if you choose a flowing style of yoga, such as vinyasa, you are moving and shaking. Your heart will get a workout and your brain will relax for a few precious moments when all you can think about is what amazing things your body is being asked to do. But there’s nothing wrong with sitting and breathing anyway. In our culture of rush, doesn’t it sound delicious to just sit still and pay attention to the breath that gives you life?

Ah, the breath — one of the biggest and most important pieces of any yoga practice is the breath. The Sanskrit name for it is Pranayama. Prana is considered to be your life force. It’s not just the breath, which I first believed it to be, but also that unnameable and invisible energy that courses through your body. Pranayama is the work of intentionally controlling the breath.

We’ll work on that a bit next week.