I started Yoga at my local YMCA mostly just to balance my workout. I said to myself “I’m just doing this for the stretch. I don’t plan on taking it seriously.” That was a month ago, and I can’t get enough. Almost immediately, I noticed that sports injuries were dropping off to almost nothing. I also noticed that my entire body functioned better.
As a result, I sought out a local Yoga instructor for private instruction and have to say that this looks like a life-long pursuit.
Welcome to the forum and to the wonderful and infinite possibilities yoga opens up to the seeker. Enjoy. 
Welcome, markh!
[QUOTE=markh;16584]I started Yoga at my local YMCA mostly just to balance my workout. I said to myself “I’m just doing this for the stretch. I don’t plan on taking it seriously.” That was a month ago, and I can’t get enough. Almost immediately, I noticed that sports injuries were dropping off to almost nothing. I also noticed that my entire body functioned better.
As a result, I sought out a local Yoga instructor for private instruction and have to say that this looks like a life-long pursuit.[/QUOTE]
Yes, there are probably many top sport people practising yoga. I remember
e. g. Jimmy Connors (tennis) and Eddy Mercks (biking).
Welcome Welcome Welcome!!!
Great to have you hear!
I also had the same experience in the beginning - everything just started working right! It was such a surprise!
First of all -welcome to the forum- markh
It goes without saying that I can only relate to my own experience and introduction to yoga. But it was a bit like unearthing a goldmine.I could experience the transformative power of yoga within the timescale you suggest. Once a home practice had asserted itself ,after a number of classes( which I had a free pass for, and the motivation was to do soomething about my stiff neck) and certainly by week 6 say , I was sold or hooked.
When you begin it can feel like the klondike gold rush; one quickly realises the value of what one has discovered, or stumbled upon;this becomes clear or increasingly so.
Had i not had certain formative life experiences or periods perhaps,some arguably a little retarded even, and some experience of life in general( by that mean i’m not 17, but i’m not ‘old’ either,depending on your definition), perhaps got a little lucky,and perhaps overlooked certain preconceptions about yoga,especially prevalent in the west perhaps,and persevered, stuck with the practice( although i did have nothing to lose,having just tapered off a methadone prescription and not devoid of craving for opioids for which hatha removed all desire for, more or less completely), i’m not entirely sure if a)i would have stuck with the practice and b)had the realisation i refer to, .ie that i had found something rather extraordinary and special. I sometimes wonder if ,it perhaps helps to know what the good stuff,the grain,the gold, looks like, that is ,in the realm of experience, in order to seaparate the wheat from the chaff.
That’s to say, you might chew a lot of chaff , as well as whole wheat, before you hit on the grain, (or decide to instead rather to keep on chewing on it)… You hear folk that maybe flirt with yoga at say 17 ( okay I peeked at your profile) then because of other concerns and priroirites , or distractions, in their life ,chasing girls/boys,frequenting pub or clubs or have other ideas about finding themselves, no indelible experience (or consistent set of…) is left or commitment to a practice does not develop, that is, until they perhaps revisit or rekindle their yoga some years later.
I do realise everyone’s life and yoga experiences are different.And I am forever curious and wonder about other peoples’.
I daresay if you do say asana(postures) and that feels good, that alone could be enough.
I’m stilll not sure if say the average teenage male weighing up whether to try out a class say in the west( a poster here informs me the male/female ratio is the opposite in the east), can open themselves to the kind of inside-out change that yoga can facilitate. Attending a class full of females can be a little odd,and the male psyche is in some ways more stubborn and less intune with the body than in some ways than their female couterpart. If one of your parents ( i’m thinking of iyengar and krishnamachyra;the relationship was brother-in -law though I hear K did’nt offer I that much guidance, leaving him to his own devices, ,to begin with at least. he learnt the hard way)was steeped in it, then that might help.
I’m also reminded here of the traditional yogi greeting ‘namaste’ which teaches one to see the divine- or the gold, within everybody, every thing, within every experience .
You have done very well to seek out a private one-to-one after just a month,( if i read you right)
This is a valuable and interesting place. I’ve learned alot here, and continue to do so.You’ll find the community here v. warm and supportive.
I hope i’ve articulated myself adequately here so some of these thoughts i’ve endeavoured to express here resonate with some people out there, even if your own experience, markh, may be somewhat different. I saw ,or felt ,the light(or a way out even, from some of my own seemingly insurmountablbe & incorrigible personal troubles,problems, issues), and the light felt good.
I can’t say i don’t currently struggle with a practice specially tailored to myself, though, asi pushed a little too far 2 years ago ( and i supect folk here maybe little weary of hearing this report , the origin of or reason for my intial post here which was very generously responded to, i must add)Though i think i’ve made more progress this past year by broadening the scope and kind of what yoga i try out.You’re in the enviable and fortunate position of having private asana tuition ( i’ll assume it’s asana/postures)which is great.
Now you can build a solid hatha foundation… from scratch…
Not learning bad habits to begin with, and all that.
Best of luck!
I just want to post a site which contains many asanas:
http://www.santosha.com/asanas/
Yes, I am aware that there are probably hundreds of sites with this subject but this one looks particularly good to me. It is just my modest opinion.