The fifth grade will present Yoga for this year’s Sports Day Program.
That was my introduction into the world of yoga. Every P.E. period, our class of 150 students(50 students each in the three sections) would learn the motions of yoga. No one explained the reasoning behind the postures, or how to be careful while doing them. We learnt all the tricky ones like the Hala asana and the Sarvang asana and the Chakra asana. I simply could not do those. And each time the less flexible ones amongst us fell, or couldn’t execute the movement beautifully, we were sent to the back rows. I, was in the last row.
My father, however, wanted me to put in my best effort. He believes that one can learn anything in the world from books. So he did what he did each time I showed an interest in anything, he bought me a book on yoga.
Dr. Phulgenda Sinha’s Yogic Cure for Common Diseases. That book was the basis for my healthy habits during the teen years. The first few chapters describe routines on how to bathe, eat and spend the day, the yogi way.
See the bedraggled state of this book…I really used it a lot!
The rest of the chapters are on various diseases from stomach disorders to arthritis and diabetes and the asanas which help prevent or treat them. This was the first time I heard about prevention being better than cure.
At the end of the book he gave a list of all the asanas one should do to maintain good health. I picked up the easiest ones, and that is the routine I fell back into each time I tried to build my yoga practice.
Yog means joining the body and mind. Yoga, as I understand it, is the physical movements done to lead the mind into a meditative state. The ultimate goal of yoga, for me, is to learn to control the mind.
I was getting bored of the same routine, which I had been following off and on, for so many years, so in Feb.2020, right before the covid lockdown, lucky me, I attended the local yoga studio sessions for a month. I enjoyed it a lot. The 7-8 other likeminded people, all calm and quiet, meeting in the evenings to go through the various asanas, ending with a namaste, motivated me to get back into yoga. If this covid hadn’t happened, who knows, I might have continued the in person classes.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the sessions done at a high clip going thru the various warrior poses- it seems those put too much pressure on my knees.
At home I tried to continue with the same practice, but eventually I fell back into my routine. I wake up and my body is tight as a drum skin. As I lay on the mat, I sometimes go back to sleep! But mostly I drag my body through my routine of the various asanas, ending with a few repetitions of the surya namaskar. I feel centered at the end of the session, and I am trying to add a meditation practice after it.
So this is my routine:
Uttanpada asana: Raised leg pose
Bhujang asana: Cobra pose
Shalabha asana: Locust pose
Dhanur asana: Bow pose
Matsyendra asana: Lord of the Fishes pose
Suryanamaskar: Sun salutations
Vriksha asana: Tree pose
Eye exercises
Shava asana: Corpse Pose
Meditation.
I just sit quietly. There is no following the breath, I just see where my thoughts are going. I have tried following the breath, and I have tried mantra meditation, but I usually just end up sitting quietly, observing my monkey mind, hopping from one branch to the next.
And I end it with a loving meditation prayer for the family and the world.
There are some myths about yoga. It is not a religious practice, much as certain people claim it is. It can be a spiritual practice, if you want it to be so.
And it will NOT help you lose weight, unless you follow the dietary principles of eating the yogic way also.
Each pose has to be done in a controlled manner with full concentration. Even the easiest looking asanas need practice. No, you might not look as graceful as the magazine pictures, but you are still getting the benefit.
Yes, you do need to have an empty stomach before you practice it, and no, it is not essential to take a bath before it, though you can, to feel clean during the practice.
Early morning practice is considered the best, but any time you can fit it in, is good. In fact the restorative yin yoga is done before sleeping to help getting a deeper rest.
Talking just about the physical benefits of yoga-it helps stretch the body, which is required after the forties. Because that stretching is not only good for the muscles, but also for the blood vessels. Studies have shown that with age, stretching the body is more beneficial for arterial disease than even cardio. It helps with balance which is so important to prevent falls at an older age.
Yoga is essentially a combination of dynamic and static stretching and when you hold the asana with the breathing for 10-15 seconds, the muscles get stronger, slowly but surely.
Even if you don’t follow it with meditation, just doing the asanas with concentration, calms the mind, decreases the blood pressure and the heart rate. It helps with focus and mental clarity.
So my advice: do try it. Give yourself at least three months to try it.
You can join a in-person class to learn the correct form. If you cannot keep up with their flow, learn variations to the asanas which you can do easily.
If you want to try on your own, start with the simplest asanas. Carve out just 10 min. Yes, 10 min and a yoga mat, a quiet spot, an empty stomach, that’s it. If you are apprehensive about laying on the floor, start with chair yoga, you’ll get similar benefits.
And show up each day. Yes, each day initially till u figure out if u want to keep up with it.
Like the Andy Warhol quote: Either once only, or every day. If you do something once, it’s exciting, and if you do it everyday its exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost everyday, it’s not good any more.
My addition to the above quote is that if I decide to do anything three days a week, or twice a week, I usually push it off till only a day or two of the week is left, and then I just let it go. So I have decided to show up on the mat everyday. Whether I do my routine or just the meditation, I let my body guide me.
Do you have a regular yoga practice? If not, what’s stopping you?Would you be interested in building one? Share in the comments, please.
