10 SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW AND RETURNING YOGA STUDENTS
10 suggestions for new and returning students of yoga
1. There is only one rule: YOU MUST BREATHE.
2. If you have a particular injury or condition that may affect your practice, try to arrive early and let the teacher know. Also, discuss physical issues with your personal health professional to determine if yoga is appropriate for you at present.
3. Try to arrive on time, but don’t miss a practice opportunity because ‘life’ comes up. If you must arrive late, spend some time warming up before joining the flow of the class. It is up to you to decide if you are fully ready and warmed up enough to begin approaching poses.
4. Try to stay for the final quiet moments of class, including resting pose. If you must leave precisely on time, consider ending your work on active poses 5 to 10 minutes before you need to leave and come into a resting pose. If you simply don’t like, or see the value of this pose, consider staying just to figure out from where your resistance is really coming.
5. Watch your thoughts, sensations and take note of any emotions that arise as you move through the postures. Try to let go of your expectations, opinions, judgments or preconceptions, keeping in mind that they are deeply ingrained. This is challenging. Direct efforts, whenever possible, to seeing whatever comes into your mind in the most neutral way you can. Just because you believe something, doesn’t mean that the thought accurately reflects reality. This is all just information. Listen and try to quietly observe the workings of your mind. It can be rather amusing and humorous, the games our minds sometimes play.
6. Practice listening to the physical communications of your body. Your body cannot talk in the traditional ways to which you have become accustomed. It cannot speak words, send an e-mail, or leave a sticky-note on your monitor. But it does communicate in subtle ways: breath rate and effort, sensations, perspiration, temperature, heartbeat and so on. Use these messages as a guide to each posture. Freely challenge yourself to come as deeply as you are able during a practice, but, remain connected to the above streams of information to temper your practice with common sense. For example, if you notice labored breathing, or a sensation that is moving past discomfort or pressure and into pain, back off just a bit. There is no rush, in fact, you can still be doing yoga when your 100. If you don’t believe me, read up on the life of Indra Devi, the first lady of yoga. (http://www.allspiritfitness.com/library/IndraDevi.shtml)
7. Practice patience by applying consistency. The ego in many of us longs for rapid progress. From that enthusiastic, mental place we push too hard, too fast, attaching to results, rather than watching our process. In this mode, we can find injury or experience difficulty in motivating ourselves to attend class regularly. We miss learning about ourselves in a deep way and risk giving up altogether if our hoped-for result doesn’t arrive in the time frame our imagination tells us is appropriate. Look at yourself honestly and then: just chill out, ok? Have faith, it will come.
8. Watch your internal dialogue. The patience and compassion you are able to give to yourself in the challenging places of your yoga practice, is probably an accurate reflection of how kind you are able to be with yourself during the challenging places in your life. Deep yoga practice is more than strength-building or muscle stretching. It is a place where we can slow down, observe and then make an energetic effort to shift the mind’s dialogue away from what is not useful and toward what is useful. Learning to speak usefully and approach life in a balanced way can start on the mat with our mental approach to postures. Then, we find ourselves thinking about our approach to life and our relationships. What we have learned about strength, adaptability, awareness and patient consistency during the yoga process on the mat, gives us a skill set to apply to the bumps on our life-road. It is all yoga.
9. HAVE SOME FUN. We all have places in yoga and in our bodies that are difficult for us. Life is hard sometimes. So is yoga sometimes. Stay with whatever is challenging you and observe how you deal with it. Consciously create some happiness, especially in those moments when you think you have no good reason to be happy. See those tough moments as practice opportunities. Smile occasionally, even if you’re having a tough time locating the feeling that backs it up. Sometimes the joyful feeling can follow the act of smiling, rather than the smile only appearing when there is joy. Contentment is about attitude not circumstance. Practice finding a reason to be joyful and grateful during your mat-time, even when you don’t get what you expect or desire or think you deserve. Then, go practice that in your life and relationships.
10. We are all students, we are all teachers, so, your wisdom goes here:
(you can share your wisdom with my by e-mailing: lawyrlee@hotmail.com or posting a comment
I write this for all of my fellow yoga practitioners, and submit it to you for consideration with respect for where you are and faith in where you are going. Hugs, Shalom and Namaste.
1. There is only one rule: YOU MUST BREATHE.
2. If you have a particular injury or condition that may affect your practice, try to arrive early and let the teacher know. Also, discuss physical issues with your personal health professional to determine if yoga is appropriate for you at present.
3. Try to arrive on time, but don’t miss a practice opportunity because ‘life’ comes up. If you must arrive late, spend some time warming up before joining the flow of the class. It is up to you to decide if you are fully ready and warmed up enough to begin approaching poses.
4. Try to stay for the final quiet moments of class, including resting pose. If you must leave precisely on time, consider ending your work on active poses 5 to 10 minutes before you need to leave and come into a resting pose. If you simply don’t like, or see the value of this pose, consider staying just to figure out from where your resistance is really coming.
5. Watch your thoughts, sensations and take note of any emotions that arise as you move through the postures. Try to let go of your expectations, opinions, judgments or preconceptions, keeping in mind that they are deeply ingrained. This is challenging. Direct efforts, whenever possible, to seeing whatever comes into your mind in the most neutral way you can. Just because you believe something, doesn’t mean that the thought accurately reflects reality. This is all just information. Listen and try to quietly observe the workings of your mind. It can be rather amusing and humorous, the games our minds sometimes play.
6. Practice listening to the physical communications of your body. Your body cannot talk in the traditional ways to which you have become accustomed. It cannot speak words, send an e-mail, or leave a sticky-note on your monitor. But it does communicate in subtle ways: breath rate and effort, sensations, perspiration, temperature, heartbeat and so on. Use these messages as a guide to each posture. Freely challenge yourself to come as deeply as you are able during a practice, but, remain connected to the above streams of information to temper your practice with common sense. For example, if you notice labored breathing, or a sensation that is moving past discomfort or pressure and into pain, back off just a bit. There is no rush, in fact, you can still be doing yoga when your 100. If you don’t believe me, read up on the life of Indra Devi, the first lady of yoga. (http://www.allspiritfitness.com/library/IndraDevi.shtml)
7. Practice patience by applying consistency. The ego in many of us longs for rapid progress. From that enthusiastic, mental place we push too hard, too fast, attaching to results, rather than watching our process. In this mode, we can find injury or experience difficulty in motivating ourselves to attend class regularly. We miss learning about ourselves in a deep way and risk giving up altogether if our hoped-for result doesn’t arrive in the time frame our imagination tells us is appropriate. Look at yourself honestly and then: just chill out, ok? Have faith, it will come.
8. Watch your internal dialogue. The patience and compassion you are able to give to yourself in the challenging places of your yoga practice, is probably an accurate reflection of how kind you are able to be with yourself during the challenging places in your life. Deep yoga practice is more than strength-building or muscle stretching. It is a place where we can slow down, observe and then make an energetic effort to shift the mind’s dialogue away from what is not useful and toward what is useful. Learning to speak usefully and approach life in a balanced way can start on the mat with our mental approach to postures. Then, we find ourselves thinking about our approach to life and our relationships. What we have learned about strength, adaptability, awareness and patient consistency during the yoga process on the mat, gives us a skill set to apply to the bumps on our life-road. It is all yoga.
9. HAVE SOME FUN. We all have places in yoga and in our bodies that are difficult for us. Life is hard sometimes. So is yoga sometimes. Stay with whatever is challenging you and observe how you deal with it. Consciously create some happiness, especially in those moments when you think you have no good reason to be happy. See those tough moments as practice opportunities. Smile occasionally, even if you’re having a tough time locating the feeling that backs it up. Sometimes the joyful feeling can follow the act of smiling, rather than the smile only appearing when there is joy. Contentment is about attitude not circumstance. Practice finding a reason to be joyful and grateful during your mat-time, even when you don’t get what you expect or desire or think you deserve. Then, go practice that in your life and relationships.
10. We are all students, we are all teachers, so, your wisdom goes here:
(you can share your wisdom with my by e-mailing: lawyrlee@hotmail.com or posting a comment
I write this for all of my fellow yoga practitioners, and submit it to you for consideration with respect for where you are and faith in where you are going. Hugs, Shalom and Namaste.
posted by YogaMama at
4:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home