Hello from Edinburgh

Community Welcome New Members
#1

Hello everyone.

I have just had a look around here and decided to join up.

I am a complete newbie to yoga, having taken just two beginners classes in Ashtanga Yoga. I found the first one very calming and felt energised for the rest of the week. The second was pretty taxing though and gave me a bit of a downer after my early success. Getting out of breathe due to the exersion and so not able to breathe with the moves properly.

I am pretty overweight, moderately unfit I suppose, and not at all flexible at the moment. I know that yoga is not a sport and that regardless how others do, I should be able to progress on my own path.

Being in a class where virtually everyone can bend down and put their hands flat on the floor is a bit dispiriting though, when the best I can manage is half way down my shins.

Is it normal for people to be on a high when they start and then hit a bit of an anitclimax after a while. Hope I don’t come across as being too whiney or negative but it has quite shocked me how bad I have felt about my practice this week. I actually went into a rage this morning as I was so frustrated by the number of things I couldn’t do. Setting up a mirror probably didn’t help. I thought I had a reasonable downward dog until I saw my reflection - terrible!

Certainly going to stick with it for the eight lesson block I have at the moment and will keep doing the basic stuff longterm.

Glad to be doing it though, and glad to be here.

#2

I’m a newbie as well, having only started a little over a month ago. It’s taken a while, but I do feel noticeably stronger and more flexible now than I was when I started. I am also more aware of my body and how I hold myself throughout the day. As for breathing, it took me several classes before I remembered to breathe during some of the more challenging poses; I lost count of how many times the instructor had to remind me to breathe. I find this is easier to remember as I stop thinking of every pose like a clenched fist.

Even still, I cannot fully express a number of poses (including Downward Dog, btw) and certainly the more experienced members of the class can express their poses more fully and with better stability than I can yet muster. I think of this as a good thing, though, for it highlights the efficacy of the practice. There’s no magic potion here for instant flexibility, strength and confidence, but if I’m practicing with a good teacher, then at least I can have some faith that I’m going in the right direction.

#3

Welcome to forum!

#4

Welcome! You will soon see how much yoga will change your life. Stay in touch and namaste.

#5

Namste,

Welcome to the Forum. What you mention in your post about your frustration etc, is the very reason why I don’t mix classes, in other words throw beginners in with advanced yogis.

All I can say, it is now the time to test your discipline to endure and persist, eventually you will get there as well, it might be just that you must work a bit harder, up your fitness level and try to shed those extra kilograms.

And please don’t be discouraged by the more advanced yogis, they all started where you have started, they were also stiff and unfit.

#6

Hi Pandara

It is not a mixed class I am in. We are all beginners doing an introductory block of eight classes. We were all pretty unflexible in the first week I think but most of the others seem to have really loosened up fast.

A week isn’t very long though so I will see. And I will try to focus on myself rather than others.

I am also running to burn off some pounds,so everything is moving forwards I hope.

#7

Hi Arhoolie,

I started yoga about 18 years ago and went through exactly the same experience as you, I can really relate to that - the initial high, then the disappointment when the high doesn’t come back, and not being able to touch your feet. For the feeling good, don’t worry, it will come back. In general when you want something to happen it doesn’t, and this really applies to mental states in yoga or meditation. Then once you give up and say to yourself “Well, I guess that was just beginners luck” you’ll see - it will come back again :smiley:

For the lack of flexibility in the lower back/upper back of legs, its well worth looking at the use of props as in Iyengar yoga to get started. In the first 18 months I practiced Hatha yoga and gained very little flexibility in this area, and now after 2 months of Iyengar yoga I can just about touch the floor, that’s a huge improvement for me!

One final thing about the running, you might find that this actually tightens your muscles and it also puts your knees under a lot of stress and you’ll be wanting them to be as strong as possible later for your yoga courses! Ashtanga yoga will no doubt make you lose weight anyway if you do it regularily, and if you have a tendency to eat high calorie food as most of us who come from that part of the world do, you’ll probably find that your eating habits change as yoga puts you more in touch with your body.

Wishing you all the best in the yoga courses!

#8

[quote=arhoolie;11091]Hi Pandara

It is not a mixed class I am in. We are all beginners doing an introductory block of eight classes. We were all pretty unflexible in the first week I think but most of the others seem to have really loosened up fast.

A week isn’t very long though so I will see. And I will try to focus on myself rather than others.

I am also running to burn off some pounds,so everything is moving forwards I hope.[/quote]

Hi,

I misunderstood your inital mail then. And yes a week isn’t very long, it took me a number of years to reach the ground in a forward bend, point is I did get there eventually. Things take time to develop and some people neeed more time than others.

Good luck.

#9

[I]I am very new to forums so i hope i am doing this right. [/I]

arhoolie, i hope you are still going to your yoga class. I too have some pounds to lose and I am the biggest one in my class, however, after a year- not only is it a fun thing I do twice a week, but I am becoming bendy, getting muscle and enjoying the new mental and physical health benefits that I didnt even expect!

Try not to discouraged-- I try to keep positive from class to class regardless of how difficult it was to do something on one day that might have been previously easy to do earlier in the week. I also found peace of mind when I realized I shouldn’t compare my skills to others which made it really nice to be able to quietly celebrate mine and others own personal triumphs.

Lastly, looking back on the last year-- the first month was the hardest. I rememeber crying on the way to yoga class cause I didnt want to do it, but smiling, joyous and relaxed after class was over. Now- I actaully cant wait to go to class!

Hang in there & Keep up the good work!!

#10

Hi Benda

I finished my block of eight introductory classes last week and am practicing up to the end of the standing sequence. I have lost quite a bit of weight, largely I think because yoga has cut my appetite back quite dramatically. Sticking with it!

#11

YAY! Good for you!! :slight_smile:

#12

I look at all the other yogis who have reached their ultimate look, strength-wise, and they’re that picture you put on the refrig. to keep you from eating junk food, and this is just from books I’ve been reading! I’ve decided to wait on “classes” until I teach myself the basics so I can keep up and not get discouraged when others are much more advanced at class. Also, I just can’t afford the cost of classes right now. Great books for beginners I have found are: [U]Yoga in Bed[/U], by both authors, [U]YogaNap[/U] and [U]Yoga Heals the Back[/U]. They are loaded with basic to intermediate postures that anyone can practice and learn on their own.