When I became a true 'believer' of yoga
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 07:09AM This is in response to a recent blogpost in Brenda Plakan's 'Grounding through the sitbones'. Thought it would be of benefit to my readers to include it here. The question was essentially 'When did we become 'true believers' of yoga. I put those in quotes because yoga is not a religion but a science, philosophy and an art.
It is more like gravity in my opinion. Whether you 'believe' in gravity, it is still going to work! :)
So here is my contribution to the discussion. Enjoy!
My yoga practice began after two serious car accidents one week apart. The speed of recovery I observed from the first few classes was so significant it made me a true believer from then.
In fact I was even more inspired by the fact that my teacher, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis several years prior,
had so little evidence of the disease in her body. She was introduced to yoga when she had already lost the sensations in the soles of her feet. She was then inspired by her own teacher to go to Pune in India to study with Mr. Iyengar. What resulted was a difference in physical, mental and emotional well-being that I was told previously did not exist.
By the time I was pregnant (twelve happy years of practice later :)) I was already convinced of yoga's many therapeutic benefits. Yoga not only helped me through a very lengthy labor but throughout pregnancy significantly. I can safely say I had none of the common complaints....no hearthburn, no nausea, no severe fatigue, no shortness of breath.... or maybe a better way to put it is that even before these symptoms got a chance to truly surface, I was able to use my knowledge of yoga to address them.
For these reasons, it was easy for me to become and to remain a true 'believer'. It is this enthusiasm that fuels my practice and I hope spills over into my teaching as well.
Reader Comments (2)
Asha,
Thanks for the link. We did a series of shoulder openers in both of my classes today. I see them as a sort of "secret weapon" because they often create instant "believers"--certainly how it worked for me. A number of people had stunned, delighted looks on their faces after savasana because the aches and pains in their upper backs were gone.
I'm glad the road to recovery for you went well and you were able to put all that knowledge to use in childbirth. Yoga has been a saving grace for me on so many levels.
Cheers and thanks for all the comments!
Brenda
:) yes nothing like the roll of the upper arm bones and the press of the shoulder blades to make people fall in love with yoga instantly. Thanks for your comment Brenda!