[Momadance]

There must be other yogis here, who are you, what style do you practice, what pose have you found yourself in that your old, bigger self would never have thought you could do? What are you working towards?

I've been practicing on and off since I was pregnant with my daughter four years ago. I now try to practice 3-4 times a week. I am looking forward to sunrise beach yoga this summer while visiting my parents.

One of the hardest parts for me has been finding good clothing. I like to have all my wobbly bits tucked & sucked in, to help me get into positions.

Namaste,
Amy

[funniegrrl]

I've been taking for about a year and a half. I had already lost about 100 pounds when I started, but had another 70 or so to go. I'm now within about 10 pounds of goal, but am still definitely a big girl with lots and lots of saggy and wobbly bits. I wear yoga pants and a t-shirt that hits just below my waist -- not baggy but not form-fitting either.

The style of my class is Anusara. I didn't know anything about the different styles when I started, but I feel I was really lucky to start with this style. It suits me wonderfully, I love the detailed attention to alignment and energy, the heart-centeredness, the visual imagery my teacher uses. I don't do full practices much on my own -- I should! But I do make use of what I've learned in my everyday life and my other physical activities. It's made a world of difference in my posture, in the way I approach stretching after a workout, etc. I also find I can call on some of the breathing and relaxation techniques when I need to.

I would say that I wouldn't have been able to do ANY of the things I do now before I started losing weight. There are still tons of poses I can't do, or have to do in a heavily modified way. In addition to still needing to work on strength and balance as well as flexibility, I have bad knees which makes a lot of poses difficult if not painful. Still, I love the philosophy of yoga meeting you where you are, of understanding that not all bodies have the ability to do everything, and that that's OK. I've made a lot of progress, and I've learned a lot about how my body works and have been able to find joy in what it CAN do.

Namaste

[ellenuw]

I have been doing Vinyasa Yoga since Feb. I love the centering on the breathing and the flow of the practice. I now can just about get my heels down when peddling in "down dog" and am working very hard to get my feet in the right place when gong from "down dog" to "lunge". The left leg is getting closer than the right, but, boy, this is tough. Why do they make it look so easy on the videos? Not many in my class have gotten it, either. The first time my instructor told me to go from "down dog" to "down dog split" I thought she had lost it. But now I am contantly challenged. From a philospohical (rather than spirtual) persepctive, I highly recommend reading "Journey into Power" by Baron Baptise. It really helped me to understand that yoga is about working and listening to your body and moving to the best of your ability and not to some ideal.

Nameste

[Momadance]

Great, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I wore my new new yoga shirt today and felt fantastic. I remember when I started, my clothes resembled tents, but they kept falling over my head in different poses. While I may never have considered a shirt like this on my way up the scale, on the way down, it seems like a reward.

Two new poses today, supported shoulderstand which I've only gotten into before by using a wall. This time, I got into it from my mat. And one more, which was a twist. I can't find a photo, but from downward facing dog, lift your right leg up, then, twist over into an almost back bend, with one arm up. Both were amazing and the accomplishment pushed me deeper into things like side plank.

[Ilene]

Momadance -- Great idea to start a Yoga tread!! I love that t-shirt, the colour and design is really nice...

I haven't done Yoga in at least two years... just too much on the go these days... For the moment I will live it vicariously through you gals...

[Amarantha2]

Also think this is a great idea! Also living vicariously as I never have time to get to my preferred yoga class anymore. Also they cut it down to 30 minutes so they could do more tai chi and I'd rather do more yoga ... tai chi makes me go to sleep!

I did do yoga at home with my collection of Wae Lana (sp?) vids, but no longer have a VCR and I've just kind of let it go for now. May challenge myself next week to do yoga three times at home or go to class.

I don't know anything about the different styles or what's correct or not correct. I only know a handful of poses and am quite klutzy at 'em, but even the little bit of yoga I do is very beneficial to my body and mind. I use some of the breathing exercises to help regulate my heartbeat, which is sometimes irregular.

I am also afraid of dentistry (big time) and have been using the visualization of doing yoga practice as a relaxation technique to get me through some ongoing dental work. The dental practice I go to is very woman centered and into skylights, soft music, incense, flowers, quilts, etc., so it feels perfectly right to talk to them about yoga.

Just wanted to say hi!

[Momadance]

Amarantha, I used a simmilar technique (hypnobirthing) for both my pregnancies. There is something about that breathing that really centers you and if you combine it with the right script (I wrote my own) you can be somewhere far a way and not even notice you have a drill in your mouth or a 9.5 lb baby coming out of you!

[Amarantha2]

Yes, that's how I feel when I even think about yoga ... centered, Momadance!

It's more than just a physical thing ...

[WaterRat]

I use breathing techniques I learned at Yoga at the dentist and any other stressful situations I find myself in.