I am interested in the feedback of yogis/yoginis on here on how has Yoga changed them since they started their Yoga practice physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually… Also mention what type of Yoga do you do, how many Yoga practices do you follow and how regular is your practice? What is your typical Yoga routine? Do you combine Yoga with other practices like cardio, weightlifting, martial arts, swimming etc?
What has prompted this question SD?
My intro to yoga began 35 years ago when I caught Lilias Folan on our PBS station. I was amazed at how peaceful and calm I was while watching her. My practice began the following morning. After a couple of years marriage and family happened (joyfully) and my practice was put on hold. I started again in my mid-late 30’s due to hip pain and arthritis. In the beginning it was just asana to me. I enjoyed the stretches and felt such an immense sense of peace. But after a few years that all changed while I was doing my practice. It was one of those aha moments for me. I knew there was something more, so I began studying and reading. At the time I was doing a practice of Kundalini (and some power yoga as well) and had the most joyful experience I could ever imagine while meditating. This is where YOGA began for me. After several more years I went through teacher training and have been teaching since. In the beginning, I taught more of a flow or vinyasa class (still do, just slower). Today I enjoy a quieter and more reflective practice.
I teach 5 classes a week and practice 4-5. My practice is following my inner spirit as to what I need. So I have no set routine. I do however always do hip openers. As far as other practices, yes. I do some weight lifting and walking.
How has it changed me over the years? More calm, focused and intuitive. Able to actually understand Carpe Diem. Each day is a new discovery. Physically? Well, I do have several herniated disc’s, but through my practice has staved off surgery. At 54, I feel in better shape (physically, mentally and emotionally) than I did 30 years ago.
Thanks for asking this question.
My father studied TM from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s and taught me Shakti building exercises and meditation at a young age. When I was about 6 years of age, a hari krishna friend of mine showed me some hatha yoga… I was able to do padma asana, and kurma asana on the first try. I started sitting in Padma asana all the time instead of regular chair sitting and often when people would see this they would teach me other asanas. I had an isolated childhood and spent alot of time alone in a dark box in my room in pretzel like asanas, meditating deeply for sometimes hours with no movement. I did not play with a ball or run around like other children, and I never liked western exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, etc., because they seemed to make the body less flexible and more tense.
At around 8 years old I saw a mouse die in a mousetrap and I saw what I believed to be its atma fly from the corpse, out the window into the sun and since that moment, I began to hear the sound ‘aum’ and sometimes the sound of veena in times of silence. When I turned 13 I stopped eating meat and began preparing my own food. During my teenage years I began fasting and transitioned to raw vegan food during this time I had several powerful kundalini experiences.
I met my wife, a Russian yogini, the first week of college and we have been together since but are brahmacharya so we have no children. We both devoted ourselves to lord Shiva began growing jata (dreadlocks) and after finishing school and working for a few years, we went to India/Nepal together. We got initiated by a nath baba, and also naga baba and have been staying here continuously for almost 6 years doing yoga, bhakti, austerities and tapasya. Now I am enrolled in a yoga therapy/naturapthy degree program and my wife is studying vastu shastra/jyotish. We hope to open an ashram dedicated to natural healing one day and serve free, highly nutritious food to the public…
I am curious as to the effects of Yoga in bringing about change, so it would inspire me to commit to a full Yoga path myself. My own Yoga practice has not yet crystalized, though I have done various kinds of Yoga on and off for the past decade, I have never really been able to maintain a sustained and regular practice, though I have all the bits and bobs that I accumulated over time that I can assemble into one. I am moving into that now, and with the inspiration from the good Yoga has brought into the lives of others, I can cement my commitment.
Do you think that I should join a Yoga group at start, or just start my own routine at home? Another question if you don’t mind, can Yoga be used as a substitute for a full exercise program(weight lifting, cardio etc), or is it at best complimentary? My goal is to develop a more toned, flexible and stronger body. I also want to gain more muscle mass and overall weight, as us vata’s are naturally thin and I have been blessed with 6’3 height, which makes me look even thinner.
Thanks Om,
It sounds like you were pretty much born into Yoga. How fortunate is your soul. Spending most of your time doing asanas and meditating, must surely have gone a long way in developing you.
You mentioned Shakti building exercises, what are they?
and I never liked western exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, etc., because they seemed to make the body less flexible and more tense.
This is something I have noted as well. The exercises seem to isolate certain muscles and have the effect of bulking that area up, which looks very pleasing on the eye, but it seems to limit mobility of that area, and from mobility I can surmise circulation in that area is also limited. Isn’t the ideal body, a body where all the muscles in the body are flexible and supple and circulation is free and flowing?
I met my wife, a Russian yogini, the first week of college and we have been together since but are brahmacharya so we have no children.
Were you in brahmacharya from the start, or did you introduce it later? Does the desire for sex still take place from time to time?
We both devoted ourselves to lord Shiva began growing jata (dreadlocks) and after finishing school and working for a few years, we went to India/Nepal together. We got initiated by a nath baba, and also naga baba and have been staying here continuously for almost 6 years doing yoga, bhakti, austerities and tapasya.
I met a few Naga babas myself on my trip to India. Where in India did you meet these babas, do they have an ashram? What did your normal routine in those six years consist of? I was a bit put off by the routines of ashrams in India, there was too much of what I consider more ritual and tradition than spiritual. Some ashrams did not even have formal meditation sittings, most of it was karma yoga(read volunteering) and temple worship, and loads of idle time.
Sd,
Thanks for answering my question. And in answer to your question:
Do you think that I should join a Yoga group at start, or just start my own routine at home?
Most definitely. I usually don’t think about “regrets” but I do regret not attending class and having a teacher when I first started. It really does help. I recall you once said something about the asana’s being natural and not wanting anyone to correct your alignment. From my perspective, alignment is critical and helps with the practice of ahimsa. When everything comes together in a pose it is a thing of beauty. Inside and out. But definitely augment your practice at home. I found not subscribing to a “particular style” much more enjoyable and beneficial.
Another question if you don’t mind, can Yoga be used as a substitute for a full exercise program(weight lifting, cardio etc), or is it at best complimentary?
All I can say is I got more strength and definition from my yoga practice than weight lifting. Cardio is important and a yoga practice doesn’t quite get the heart rate up for an extended period. (Astanga and Power come close) Yoga can be done alone, as a substitute or to augment. It just depends on what you can commit to and have time for.
I follow my instincts entirely now. It has taken some time to reach this stage. Occasionally I become insecure but these moments are brief now and I find I am led to where I am meant to understand more. This site for example and some of the people who visit this site, you for example Surya, Suhas Tambe, Lotusgirl. Asuri…(and more). This is the reason I visit the site. You are a part of my spiritual journey. I know you are. I know.
I haven’t started yoga practice yet, but like another poster, did yoga on tv with Lilias when I was young (and loved it, and read Autobiography of a Yogi and everything else I could). I’m retiring and want to get back into it, but I am very suspicious of anything supernatural and am a free thinker and atheist. That doesn’t mean that I think the universe, so so speak, is not mysterious and mostly unknown to humans.
Is there a place in yoga for someone like me? My goal is to become strong again and recover from ovarian cancer.
It depends on how far you want to take Yoga. If you are practicing Yoga for the health benefits, then there are of course hundreds of studies to back up its efficacy in improving health. If you are practicing Yoga for its intended purpose of realization of your true self, then it does indeed predicate accepting its theory of matter and consciousness dualism. That basically means that you, the “I” are not the body or the mind, but are pure consciousness outside of space, time and causality. The purpose of Yoga is to reverse ones false identification with the body and the mind through physical and mental disciplines to realize ones essential nature as consciousness. Along the way there are many benefits one will gain, which includes health benefits and many unconscious capacities and capabilities being awakened like intuition, intelligence, control over your physiological processes.
Yes Yoga will definitely benefit your health. However, attaining these benefits is certainly not the purpose of Yoga, attaining physical health is just one fraction of Yoga.