Why Try Yoga?

Yeah, good question, eh?

 There are a lot of claims about yoga out there that make the practice seem almost too good to be true. 

• CAN it increase your weight loss? 

• DOES it lead to “enlightenment”? 

• What does that even mean? 

• WILL your rear end look good in pants if you take up yoga?

Well in order of question the answers to the above questions are:

1.  Not really.  Not in the calories in vs. calories out kinda way that you think.  Also, yoga isn’t cardio, no matter how hot you make it.  Even if you feel like it is sweaty and sporty.   Sorry to burst your bubble. 

2.  Not likely.  Not like you think in the sitting under the bodhi tree and disseminate into the ether kind of way.  It can, however, lead to more enlightened decision making in your real life that you live every day.  The true enlightenment path is practiced by Saddhus in India who live in Ashrams and don’t have families and jobs and a mortgage. 

3.  Excellent question. 

4.  Eh.  Maybe?  Better yet, a good yoga practice will make you feel so good in your own body that you won’t care so much.

So why practice yoga in the first place?

Well, I will give you three good reasons.

1.  It feels good to move in your body. 

The good news is that is the first step along the path anyways.  We need to feel good in our bodies.  Let your body move in a way that is positive and non-judgmental.  Let your breath expand your lungs and remind you how great it is to feel alive, even for a sec.  This movements will make other things easier, like getting out of bed and going up and down stairs. 

It will keep your joints lubricated, and that is something you want to actively pursue like nothing else.  Seriously.  Pursue lubricated joints and movement like you are trying to get your first date with that swoon-worthy and smart special someone who makes you laugh and can cook gourmet vegetarian meals after feeding the homeless on Tuesdays. 

Seriously.  Your joints are that important.

2.  The ability to focus your mind on your breath and body movement is a ninja-like super skill. 

There is a potential that you think I am exaggerating.  But I am not.  If you ever wanted to get stuff done in any aspect of your life I promise that one of the things that was standing in your way was lack of focus.  Social media is there to help distract us (are you on it right now?).  There is always some mindless chore to do and get engrossed in.  What about the mail?  Where DID you put your glasses?  Wait!  It is Lucille’s birthday and I need to send her a card!  Who keeps cards?  What is it 1992? 

Whew.  Okay.  Let’s focus.

Focus on your breath.  Can you feel your lungs expand as you breathe in?  Can you feel them gently contract as you breathe out?  Can you just think about that for another breath?  Great.  You are doing great.

Now can you breathe in and raise your arm above your head in coordination with your inhale?

A little like this…

<inhales> 

<raises arm at the same time and same pace>

Great job! I bet you even lowered your arm in the same way without me telling you to do it. Cool!

Now.  Go do that one thing you needed to get done and were avoiding. 

Imagine how super skilled you would be if you did an hour of movement coordinated with and focused on your breath.  Twice a week? Ninja-status unlocked.  

3.  Relaxation is not dessert.

This is a statement I have to repeat over and over and over and over again.  At the end of most yoga classes there is a part called Savasana.  This is the great ending to the movement part of class, and is translated often into “corpse pose”, which is less sexy but actually super important to note.

The thing I hear from students a lot during this time is “I came for this”, or “I love this little reward at the end”.  Now make no mistake.  I have jokingly called savasana ‘nap time for grown-ups’, which turns out we need. 

And that, my friends, is the point.

The relaxation piece at the end of a yoga class offers the opportunity for your nervous system to catch up with all of the movements you just did.  It processes and integrates and decides if what you did had value. 

It lets your brain rest. 

And if you can manage it, maybe your brain gets a few moments of living in the now with a ‘this floor is gloriously firm’ or ‘my breath feels so good right now’ or maybe even a ‘now I am inhaling, now I am exhaling’. 

 Relaxation is a critical part of the practice.  It allows everything, body, mind, and maybe if you are lucky that extra we often call “spirit” is integrated together to create a new sense of peace, ease, meaning, and purpose.

 And what is more worthy of trying a practice full of awkward (at first) moves than that? 

See you in class or online, Friends!

Rebecca