Third Anniversary Post

Three years and 115 blog posts later.   

The era of big advances in my Yoga practice is gone.    What I have settled down to is a consistent  practice where my body limitations, my age, and my activity are balancing each other out.   Even though I try,  I know that I will most likely never do a split or a peacock or firefly pose.  My body is just not built that way.  

I have read that after a few years of practice,  your skeleton defines your limitations.  Individual bodies are not built to do all the possible movements that humans on the whole can do.  This means that not every body can do every pose in yoga.   I know that there are many poses that I cannot do because of my age or physical limitations,  but I understand these limitations and work around it.   I do not dwell on my limits.

Yoga (and my diet guidelines) has brought to me an enormous amount of benefits both physical and psychological.    Physically I am stronger,  more flexible, have better balance and more endurance.   I no longer fear sneezing or bending down to pick something up.   Any superfluous body fat is pretty much gone. I feel as though my whole body is in line with itself as I have the core strength and flexibility that I did not have before I started my practice.    The hours spent on the mat concentrating on breathing or holding long poses has given me a level of tranquility and patience  that I did not have before I began my practice.     I can now sit quietly for 20 minutes  where before I could barely sit still for one.     My practice has changed me immensely.

Yoga is integrated in my life.   I cannot conceive of going for more than one day without practicing.  Some days it may only be for 30 minutes but I still practice.   There are times where I go for weeks practicing every day.   I have practiced in hotel rooms,  parks, basements,  my mother's living room,  anywhere I can find a spot to put my mat. I have done thousands of Sun Salutations and will continue to do them until I cannot do them anymore.   When that day comes,  I will find another pose to replace it.

I started this blog so that maybe one person who reads it will decide to follow a similar path.   It is not an easy one.   It takes effort and patience.  It takes determination.     There really is no quick way to good health.   No pill or new invention can replace diet and exercise.    The rewards for this effort  is great, however,  and thus worth every second you exercise and every piece of bad food you decide not to eat.


Namaste.

Was ist los hier! My First Class in German..

I am working in Germany for about 12 weeks and while I love my home practice and there is plenty of of room in my apartment here to practice,   I also need the community of fellow Yogis from time to time.     Therefore,  I took the plunge and went to a class at a studio about 10 minutes from where I am staying.   I was a bit nervous as I did not know what the class would consist of and how I would do following instructions with my less than optimal knowledge of German.  

Because I travel a good amount for work,  I have had the opportunity to go to a number of studios in the US but this was the first class that I took outside of the country.   One thing you learn from going to different studios is that each place has a set of customs that can be unique to that studio.   In this studio,  this was no exception.    There were two side by side dressing areas with curtains where many people changed in and  most people work socks even on the practice floor (the instructor never took his off).   The studio provided mats, small pillows and thin blankets that many people used both before class and during Savasana.    I was one of the few people who brought his/her mat.   No one brought in a water bottle. Conversation was very limited.    There was a small altar in front of the class with candles, incense and photos of a few gurus.     My overall impression is that this studio was really into the spiritual side of Yoga and is in fact,  the most spiritual one I had ever gone to.

As for the class  (which lasted about 1.5 hours) ,  we said a few Oms and then some songs were sung  (this happened before and after class) that were in Sanskrit and related to Vishnu  and everyone but myself knew the words.  It was actually quite nice.    We then did the longest session of Pranayama (breath exercises) that I had ever done as we did two types for a number of rounds.     The actual Asana part of the class was somewhat strenuous  (it was listed as intermediate/advanced) and was generally in line with what I would have expected from a good Yoga class.    We even got to do a nice long headstand.    As for the language challenge,   I was pretty much able to follow along (though I did not get much of what he was saying) and I did pick up a few new words and phrases  (and looked up a few after class that he used often and that I did not know).   I did not encounter any new Asanas.

When I was walking to the class, I kept reminding myself that it was Yoga and that I should not be nervous about going.    After I left,  I was able to believe it.  I have decided to spend  €80 (about $88) for 10 classes which is less than the compatible in most US Yoga studios.  What was nice was that the first class  (Probestunde) was free. 

Namaste

It is a Personal Practice

My home studio offers a free two hour beginner Yoga workshop once a month.    It is a nice gesture on their part and I am sure there is a hope that some of the attendees will sign up for a regular membership.      I myself have been telling people to come to this one class to see if they like Yoga.  I think that this would be a good start for them.

Starting a Yoga practice can be  easy or quite difficult  depending on one's approach.   I have been told by many people that they are too "inflexible" to practice Yoga or they do not have the time to start a practice.  My response to that is that it is your body and it will be more inflexible tomorrow if you not do anything today.  Other people have told me that they do not want to look "bad" in a class of bendy people.   This disinclination to "|look bad" on their part may be the biggest impediment to beginning a practice.   If you learn to work within your limits and understand that any practice is personal and for the practitioner alone,  much of the fear  of looking "bad' can be eliminated.   In Yoga,  it really is all about you.

From the day we have entered Kindergarten,  most of us have been judged and evaluated.   We get graded in school and then when we begin our life's work, we get annual reviews and get graded there.   As a result of this lifetime of being evaluated, we establish a mindset of constantly being under the judgement of others.     With my Yoga practice,  I found it difficult to pull one away from that judgmental mindset.   When I first started practicing,  I would think about how the instructor was evaluating my posture in an pose.   I looked at is a grade and wondered how I was doing compared to everyone else.  In reality,  it should have been about me and  my practice and nothing else.   My  practice is what I  make of  it, and it should not be subject to perceptions of judgement.

When we take the judgement of others into our Yoga practice,  we can either do one of two things. We either push ourselves beyond our boundaries and risk getting injured or we hold back in fear of failing.    The correct thing to do is to live your practice within the confines of your mat and to put blinders on to both what others are doing and what you think others are thinking of  you.   You are on the mat for your own needs.

I think back to how I was basically crushed during my first class.   It was hot,  I was not prepared and I was out of shape.    Five years later I still  have classes and home practices where I struggle.   It is a continual practice of learning about myself and living within my physical limitations. One has to remember that it is your practice and it becomes what you make of it.

Namaste.

Five Years a Vegetarian

The choice to become a vegetarian is a difficult one in some aspects,  but quite easy in others.   As a choice of renunciation,  the decision to stop eating animals is not an easy one.   You face questions from friends and family,  difficulties in social situations,  and the removal of the core of where you build your meal around.   On the other hand,  you feel cleaner and healthier.   If done properly,  a vegetarian diet is a key part of good health and , hopefully, longevity.    It has been a surprisingly easy path of me and I cannot believe I will ever revert to being an omnivore again.

Namaste..

Annual Winster Solstice 108 Sun Salutations

About two  years ago,  I wrote about my upcoming first attempt at 108 Sun Salutations with a group of people to celebrate the Winter Solstice.     Last year I wrote a second post about  doing 108 Sun Salutations.

First Post

 Last Year's Post


Today was my third time doing this.  

For each Sun Salutation I did  a Chaturanga and an Upward  Dog (or Cobra) without using my knees.   This basically meant 108 slow  push ups  in addition to the 108 down dogs,  216 forward , folds, 108 half lifts,  216 lunges  (I did 108 low and 108 high ) and 108 prayer positions.       I,  along with everyone else,  finished in about 1.5 hours.     As usual hard part was more mental,  as doing something that many times  and knowing how many were left was more of a challenge than actually doing the flows.    


It was great to see 30 plus people from 16 to 60 caring enough about themselves to take on this endeavor.    The energy is so positive and so great. That  is the best thing about doing these Salutations.

I am sure that my hamstrings will be pretty sore and I may skip my Sunday morning class to do a long Yin sequence at home to stretch my hamstrings,  hips and back.    I may do both depending on how I feel.

Thanks to Take Yoga Studios for doing this every year..   Take Yoga


 Namaste..

 

Back to the Travel Mat

I am on the road this week in a nondescript middle American city.    This is the first trip in over a year where I could not bring my regular mat with me so its back to the skinny easy to pack travel mat again.   Practicing in a cramped hotel is not optimal but the option not to practice is not there.   Even though the mat may be thin and lacking real grip,  I know that I still must practice and this is my best option.    A commitment to a regular practice means that practicing at home and on the road is just as if not  more important than going to the studio.      After 4+ years of regular practice,  it is a part of me. Continuing my practice will be the only way I will have  a chance to do headstand when I am  100 years old.



Namaste.

Mixing Things Up

Now that Summer is gone and Autumn is waning,  my ability to walk many miles in my local park after work  is pretty limited.   Darkness is coming early again and even though the park is generally safe,  there is traffic on it and it really is no fun walking in the dark in an almost empty park.     When it was light out,  I would take 3 nights after work and walk anywhere between 4 and 6 miles.   The distance pretty much depended on how much my dog lasted  (she is 8+ years old now and determines when it is time to turn around) .  Now that it is cooler,  she can easily do the 6 mile loop but in the Summer,  she lags a bit.  

It is my humble opinion that you need to do more than Yoga because Yoga has limited cardio impact unless you are really doing a fast flow.     Most of the classes that I take barely make me breath heavy so I always need to supplement.   This is why I have always done a ton of walking.  

Since September, I have added what I call the "Series from Hell" to my exercise routine.   This is a half hour routine that really gets the heart pumping and the breath flowing.    I start with as many wide armed pushups as possible  (generally about 40 ) and then when that is done,  I set a timer for 3 minutes,  do 100 crunches with lower back flat on floor and just lifting shoulders and chest that usually takes about 2 minutes).   I then relax (almost die actually)  for the last minute on the timer.      I then do the cycle again except that I do a set of only 20 pushups and 100 crunches.   This is repeated four times with the one minute break between the crunches and the next pushup series.   I finish with 50  regular situps  (bringing the body up) with my dog barking at me   (something about situps gets her pretty riled up) .  I usually follow this series with an hour long Yin Yoga session to get my body relaxed and stretched.   The Yang/Yin combination makes this my favorite time to do Yoga.    



 I chose to do the wide armed pushups  (my hands are outside the edges of my Yoga mat) because I do many Chaturangas  during my Yoga practice and because wider armed pushups put less stress on the shoulders and more on the chest muscles.      I cannot say that I look forward to starting but once the first series is done,  the follow up ones are not too bad.    My goal is to hit 50 pushups in one session and I think that I may be able to make it. 

When I first started doing pushups again,  I think I was able to do about 12  (I had started doing the pushup series about a year ago and then stopped after a few months).    Progress was pretty smooth but I have plateaued for certain and now I know I have to work to get to 50.   Getting to the point where I am pushing 40  (42 is my record) pushups most of the time  gives me a great sense of accomplishment.  It also makes me realize that our bodies are still able to work hard and get stronger and have more endurance even when we are past 50 years of age.   That is a good feeling.  

Namaste...