“Yoga? yeah, quite easy!”- says no one ever! Unless you’re just looking at videos of a yogi who make perfect postures, emanating in his/her face purely happy vibes, making it look like without a sweat activity, but you haven’t for once tried a class. Well I’m sorry, but I’m breaking that idea right now.
Before, I was one of those people who tried to avoid Yoga because I thought it will not challenge me cardio wise. I was then more interested in high intensity and high impact movements. I have this belief that, the more stressful it is, the more pumped your heart will be, generally correct but not always. Also, I figured I was more effective under stress–BOY, WAS I WRONG. High impact exercises slowly took a toll on me until I found myself being complacent about it, and eventually avoiding it. The only high impact cardio I wouldn’t ever quit on is boxing because I love the sport but that’s for another time. I just want to clear as early as now that I’m not discouraging you guys with high impact exercises; in fact, it lengthened my physical endurance and improved my muscle memory. so I am still grateful for it and probably be doing it from time to time.
However, Yoga opened a new door for me. It’s a difficult exercise with a great deal of tension but it eliminates the word STRESS. The postures are a no joke. Difficult, yes, but challenging that I find myself contracting and stretching muscles that I thought was just dormant, sweating like I have never experienced sweat in my life, and not holding my breath through the process. While there’s flow of breath, I tend to focus better in doing the posture and because there’s focus, stress dissipates like it’s foreign to the people in the room. It literally is MAGIC if you know what I mean. It has such a long term effect thst after class, it reduces my stress and anxiety in life in general. I’m not sure if it’s due to power of suggestion or it really is making my previously stagnant chakra flow now, LOL!
So, I’ve been doing Yoga for more than 5 sessions at this point and I’m particularly attending two types of Hot Yoga classes in my gym, the CENTRAL COAST LEAGUES FITNESS.
Please checkout their site for more information. Photo credits to their main site as well.
My husband, TJ and I first tried the HOT 26 (Express) as recommended by our friend, Matt, who frequents the gym. Then the next day, I attended the Power Vinyasa Yoga. My heart is torn between the two and fell in love with both. Since then, I keep on coming back, doing it alternately.
HOT 26 (Express), according to the gym’s pamphlet, “An athletically challenging series of 26 postures and two breathing exercises which are suitable for most fitness levels. Based on the Bikram Yoga format. Not suitable for pregnancy.” In Bikram Yoga, they would normally heat up the room with a 25-42°C temperature and perform 26 postures for the duration of 90 minutes. In the class I’m attending, it’s usually 60 minutes. There are other classes that has 90 minutes but that’s out of my league as of now. I can go as high as 75 minutes and that was tested last Saturday day for a holiday class.
Power Vinyasa Yoga, from the pamphlet, “The room is heated to 32°C to aid in detoxing the body, through sweat and increase blood flow.” They said that Power Yoga is different from Vinyasa Yoga according to my research and all the more confused me. Although I delved deeper in the web, I came across an article from Yoga Journal, “Power Yoga is a fitness-based vinyasa practice. An offshoot of Ashtanga Yoga, it has many of the same qualities and benefits, including building internal heat, increased stamina, strength, and flexibility, as well as stress reduction. Teachers design their own sequences, while students synchronize their breath with their movement. The original Power Yoga was developed and founded by Beryl Bender Birch, but is now a term used to describe many vigorous vinyasa styles.”
I don’t wanna go in to so much details and make more arguments about which is which but I’d like to point out my take aways in the whole yoga experience:
- Even if I am a doctor by profession, I learned how to BREATHE properly. There is really a correct way to breathe and that I became more aware of my lungs ability to inhale and exhale and be grateful about it, daring my lung’s vital capacity (that’s a medical term!). Breathing is fundamental to meditation and I hope I’d be able to achieve the right way of meditating in the future.
- I learned how to FOCUS. I was a mess before doing Yoga. My thoughts are all over the place, so much so that I am affected physically. I had a bad breakout in my skin, I had a hard time to sleep, and even my menstrual period was affected. The reason for those would be for another time again (I want to focus on Yoga). My mental health is plummeting too. I seem to be forgetful, and I even had anxiety attacks. But Yoga class is such a safe place that learning to focus on breathing and doing a certain posture has long term effects. I learned to focus even out of class.
- I become more AWARE of myself especially my POSTURE, that I now LISTEN to my body. There’s this chronic pain in my back, at the Cervical area and Lumbo-sacral area as it probably loses its natural curvature over time due to poor posture and poor habits as result of not listening to my body. With repeated Yoga sessions, my pain has been decreasing and I am not as much complaining anymore. I think, being accountable to your body as early as now would make your future self thank your present self, so make the best out of now for good results!
- Because I am now listening to my body, I am having LESS GUILT with myself and hopefully, in time lesser INSECURITIES. I’ll just have to attend more classes to reach that, because it would need a painstaking self- awareness and self-clarity for that. LOL.
- At this point, I don’t want to pay more attention with weight loss as I did before in my fitness journey and I don’t want numbers to be a determinant of my healthiness. I am taking it one step at a time, and letting my MIND and my BODY explore it. Right now, I am just GRATEFUL for what I have achieved so far in my Yoga journey, bit by bit, achieving STRENGTH both physically and mentally.
I suggest doing Yoga first in a class to avoid accidents and to correct you with the proper way of doing it. They tend to be hands on. While Yoga is not for everbody, better to check in first with your healthcare practitioner and the Yoga instructor for concerns like previous injury, surgery, or chronic condition. All in all, Yoga is beneficial for the mind and the body.
The Housewife, MD 