Sunday, August 28, 2016

YOGA: A TRANSFORMATIVE PRACTICE

"Yoga is a transformative practice," Elizabeth told us at the beginning of Saturday's class.

How often do you come in to class with your mind racing with thoughts, your muscles tight, your emotions run amok?  By the end of class do you feel the same?

I would venture, generally not.  Generally spending 90 minutes in the studio moving with the breath, focusing on the form of asana, letting thoughts come and go like clouds passing in the sky allows a transformation to occur that is of benefit to mind, spirit, and body.

But maybe not at first....my first many, many yoga classes were exercises in transforming me from one who was overweight, stiff, and uncoordinated into someone who was sad, frustrated, and self-critical because I "couldn't do it."  Couldn't do yoga.  Those pretzel-y shapes were impossible, balancing a disaster, bending and stretching an exercise in futility.  My racing mind went from the to-do list at home to the "I'm such a klutz; I can't do this; this is dumb" list of ways in which I was putting myself down in comparison to others.

But for some reason completely beyond my understanding, I stuck with it.  Eight years into a regular practice I can do most of the poses offered in class, touch my toes in Forward Bend, and calm the racing mind fairly easily.  When I am clumsy or can't find the pose, I mostly laugh and accept that on THAT DAY the pose is not mine to do.  Maybe another time.  Maybe not.  I've learned the transformative power of self-acceptance on the mat.

And, since Yoga is Life, that transformative power of self-acceptance is available to us off the mat as well.  I may have written here of my battle with depression at times and a teeny tiny affinity toward anxiety.  Neither of these states are conducive to self-acceptance. I hate them both, and that means I also hate a part of me.  I had quite the struggle with these Twin Demons last winter and ended up in talk therapy for several sessions.  My most basic learning there was to practice "radical self-acceptance"; even accepting those parts of myself I want to change and improve, but recognizing that in that moment they were a part of me and had lessons to teach;  lessons in compassion, humility, vulnerability, and connection.

I started to see the parallels to my "real life" and life on the mat.  Transformation takes time and patience; we are not star yogis at our first class.  Learning a new pose often puts us in touch with humility and vulnerability.  We reach out to teachers for support and expertise.  We slowly put together a few simple poses; we move into deeper stretches one inch at a time; we breathe deeply and fully learning that the breath is the root of life and a naturally calming balm to anxiety and fear so that our backbend becomes a place of joy rather than terror.  Just like life.

Do you have stories of transformation?  Do you show up at class with all the human concerns of life and it's craziness and leave feeling looser and lighter?  Yoga is a transformative practice.  Let it be your guide into a new way of living your life off the mat as well. ©

Namaste,  donnajurene

Photo Credit: pixabay.com

Sunday, August 21, 2016

DUMBBELL YOGA

I've decided to take up weight lifting.  Maybe seeing all those ripped bodies in Rio at the Olympics has motivated me; maybe it's the increasingly flabby, baggy bits on my body; maybe I could lose a pound or two of belly fat.  Whatever.   A few weeks ago I registered for a "Lift to Lose: Senior Strength and Balance" class at a local rec. center.

May I just say, the whole "senior" thing is starting to grate on me.  When you hear that word, what images pop into your mind?  Yep.  Why can't we just say "older adults"?  It might sound like semantics, but you have a whole different picture story in your head when you use those words, don't you?   But I digress....

The class allows everyone to lift at their own pace, choosing free weight dumbbells that are appropriate to them.  Most choose between 2 pounds and 6 pounds, I've noticed.  I'm starting out with 4 pound weights.  The instructor does easy movement warm ups before we even pick up the weights.  When we do, she moves us through a wide range of motion in the upper body, targeting all the arm, chest, and back muscle groups.  We do squats, bends, and folds holding the weights.  Sometimes we use exercise bands or balls.  Sometimes there is more emphasis on aerobics.  There is always a balance component to the class.

What does any of this have to do with yoga?  Well, here's the braggy part.  My yoga practice has made me the most flexible and balanced girl in class.  At least it seems that way to me.  I rarely have to hang on to the back of my chair for balance; my squats, folds, and bends are far deeper than those of others; my breathing is deep, slow, and measured....

Wait.  Am I comparing myself to my classmates?  Is my Ego running amok with "yay me!" self congratulation?  Hmmm...I guess the true meaning of yoga abandoned me there for a moment.

My point is...I am so grateful for yoga being one component of a well-rounded fitness program for me at this older adult stage of my life.  I am a yoga proselytizer and see it as a spiritual practice with the happy side benefit of encouraging fitness.  Combining the asana limb of yoga with a ramped up aerobic and resistance weights program, worked out after a consultation with the Lift to Lose instructor, and I will soon be setting up a Go Fund Me site to raise money to send me to Tokyo in 2020.  I'm sure my Olympic career is just about to take off. ©

Namaste, donnajurene

Photo Credit: Copyright: <a href='https://www.123rf.com/profile_kakigori'>kakigori / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Thursday, August 4, 2016

SOAPY YOGA


When I heard Karen in class today advise that we practice yoga all the Days of Our Lives,  I immediately flashed back to my uncle.  My Uncle Ryan's hope was based in his firm conviction that we only have One Life to Live, and that too quickly that life passes like sands through an hour glass or spinning on its axis, As the World Turns.  First we are The Young and the Restless.  Later we mature in the The Bold and the Beautiful.  But as time marches on we soon find ourselves fighting a Secret Storm, and eventually following that Guiding Light toward The Edge of Night.  There is no time to waste wishing for Another World.  I remember him saying, "I hope that All My Children will know that this present moment is more important than a futile Search for Tomorrow and that choosing health and vitality, especially through practicing Yoga, is all that stands between an active life and a trip to General Hospital."

My uncle was a wise man.  He also watched a lot of daytime TV.  ©

Namaste,  donnajurene

Photo Credit:  General Hospital, ABC.com