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I'll go ahead answer first.
What kind of yoga have you tried?
I do hot yoga once a week at a studio. I might start doing it twice a week. I can only afford to do it when they have their Karma classes where you pay a minimum donation of $5 that goes towards a charity.
I tried to do a yoga dvd at home but I just couldn't get focused like I can when I'm in the hot environment of the studio.
Why do you like it?
I love how when I'm there I can totally escape all the random thoughts that routinely go through my mind elsewhere.
I love how I feel a complete inner peace.
I love that I never feel judged when I'm practicing even though I'm usually always the biggest girl in the class.
I love how I walk out of there feeling so refreshed.
I love how I sweat buckets, feeling as if I've just sweat off every negative thought or energy that was in me.
What improvements have you seen in yourself?
It has led me to believe in myself more and feel more confident.
It makes my body FEEL good.
It helps with my aching joints and muscles.
What I really love about it, is that there is always room to grow!!
I have tried hot yoga and yin yoga - I like them both. Sometimes I have to talk myself into going to hot yoga because the heat makes me feel claustrophobic (probably a mid-life hot flash thing) but once I do it I love it!
Benefits: Makes me feel good all over! Especially my hips and low back which had gotten so tight I couldn't run anymore! Now I can run pain free! Next thing to work on - my shoulders which are really tight!
I agree that it is kind of pricey to go to classes but I think classes are much better than videos too!
I'm 53 and have been doing Yoga on and off since I was 18... I usually do Hatha Yoga and have done Hot Yoga twice... Love them both... I've also gone to a Yoga camp in the Laurentian Mountains, what an experience that was, doing Yoga outside on a platform in the open mountain air. For me it just grounds me.
I was at a fitness conference this weekend in Montreal and Lyne St. Roch was one of the presenters. She had a hip opening workshop. I had a splitting headache when I went in because I was hungry, I didn't want to eat because I never eat before a Yoga workout because it just doesn't agree with me... Came out of there, with no headache and not feeling hungry.
I can find EVERYTHING right with Yoga NOTHING wrong with it at all, it can be done at any age any time...
I'll share just because I think my experiences are different than most.
I've taken yoga from 3 different instructors in person, and tried a couple of DVDs, and I didn't like any of it. One was vinyasa, another was a beginner class where I think they mixed various forms, and the other was back in high school and I don't even remember, heh. Every instructor was too "spiritual" for my taste. Either that or they were always throwing out a lot of pseudoscience that makes me REALLY uncomfortable. I actually took one pilates class where the instructor was the same way - to the point where she was blatantly anti-science on occasion - so it's nothing against yoga, just a personality I can't really deal with (and certainly don't want to PAY MONEY to deal with).
I guess I do have some trouble being told what to think, which was an integral part of all the yoga workouts I've done. I understand the idea, but it makes me anxious and rebellious. You can tell me how/where/when to move my body, but I'd like to think about whatever I'd like, thankyouverymuch. So, part of the problem is me, I suppose. I guess I wouldn't be a good target for hypnosis either, lol.
I know there are other instructors that are very straightforward, fact-based, and physical, but I'm not willing to devote the time to shop around much more. I might try other DVDs at some point (Jillian Michaels is supposed to be coming out with a yoga DVD!) but that's about it.
mayness - too bad that has been your experience. I haven't run into that at all - maybe a little focus on love and opening up your heart but no experience where I feel like the instructor has been telling me what to think. Hope you find the right instructor or video because I really think good yoga can keep one active for a long long time!
I love, love, love yoga. Sadly, I'm not doing it enough these days.
For about a year straight I went to a yoga class 3 times a week. I felt the most grounded and peaceful I ever have that year. Plus I gained strength in my body I never knew I had!
I prefer Hatha yoga mostly. Really need to get back into a regular routine of at least a home practice.
I do "power" vinyasa and mixed yoga classes four nights a week. Before I started yoga I would frequently run for 30 mins and use weight machines but I never saw any improvement. After 6 months of yoga I am toned and stronger than I've ever been before. I think a lot of people have the misconception that yoga is always an easy-going, laid back kind of exercise but my classes are the most intense workouts I've ever had. I leave sweating and sore.
Interesting, Mayness. I don't run across much criticism of yoga online. It's like it's not allowed.
I went looking once, out of curiosity, and found an article written by a fundamentalist Christian who warned against yoga as un-Christian. That was about it.
My therapist is a yoga teacher & a big advocate of yoga. Also, since I'm near Manhattan, it's widely practiced around here & classes seem to be held everywhere. So my encounters with yoga have seemed foreordained.
I try to take the vinyasa yoga class offered at my gym on Tuesday nights, but it's very athletic & challenging & I am not sure I enjoy it, and thus I often find reasons to avoid going.
I have a lot of un-yoga-like feelings during the class. I do the modifications & wish I could be doing the poses more like the other very fit, highly experienced women in the class. The full-length mirrors are cruel to my loose skin issues. I find myself checking the clock to see how much longer I'll have to endure repeating the more tortuous sequences.
Before this class, I'd had some experience with taking an adult ed, once-a-week beginner's yoga class that met in the local elementary school gym. That class, I enjoyed very much. It was slower. I was just learning the asanas. I was going through a difficult time with a terminally ill family member & during the relaxation period at the end of these classes, I used to lie there with tears rolling down my cheeks. I loved this class the way I love sinking into a warm bath. The vinyasa class is nothing like this.
My therapist often fulminates about what the American drive toward competition has done to yoga & is digusted about recent NY Times articles about yoga & gourmet food classes & yoga & wine-tasting classes. Basically, he wants the fad to be over so that it's left again to people who are more serious about the spiritual aspect.
Interesting, Mayness. I don't run across much criticism of yoga online. It's like it's not allowed.
Absolutely. I get stronger reactions to "I don't like yoga" than to "I don't like chocolate cake" (and that's saying something - I've come to believe some people value chocolate cake above their own children). Even though 3FC is one of the friendliest places on the internet, I fully expected to be attacked for what I posted above. I did it anyway because I don't really care but now I love 3FC even more because I didn't get flamed all to heck. Love you chicks!
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Originally Posted by westernsoutherngirl
mayness - too bad that has been your experience. I haven't run into that at all - maybe a little focus on love and opening up your heart but no experience where I feel like the instructor has been telling me what to think. Hope you find the right instructor or video because I really think good yoga can keep one active for a long long time!
I'm not necessarily saying this is what you meant above, but I want to clarify - I don't feel like any of the instructors have been telling me what to think/believe in general, just what to think at that moment. Like, telling me to clear my mind... that just makes me think "hey, what if I don't WANT to clear my mind? I've got all this free time here, so it seems like a prime opportunity for me to make sure I've got all the right controls planned for my next experiment, or to rehearse a seminar, or figure out what to put on a poster... and who does this instructor think she is to tell me NOT to do that?" Or even worse, they tell me to picture or imagine something. Usually to help with form or breathing or whatnot. I can do that for about 2 seconds before I'm BORED with it and I start purposely picturing other things, lol. It sounds kinda ridiculous to write it out.
I have tried very little yoga, and found that it either was killing my wrists or I couldn't even begin to do the pose, even modified. When I get closer to 200 lbs I want to give it another go.
I love yoga and used to practice avidly. But then I started letting my body go and my mind followed and I just could NOT appreciate it or myself for a long time. Tonight I did yoga again for the first time in more than a year and it felt SO good.
I have practiced Hatha, Vinyasa and Ashtanga. Bikram and Kundalini are two that I would like to try but haven't yet had the opportunity.
"hey, what if I don't WANT to clear my mind? I've got all this free time here, so it seems like a prime opportunity for me to make sure I've got all the right controls planned for my next experiment, or to rehearse a seminar, or figure out what to put on a poster... and who does this instructor think she is to tell me NOT to do that?"
Clearing your mind (more or less) is what yoga is about. That's not to say you can't do whatever you want with it, or just not do yoga if you don't wanna, or whatever. Truly. But it doesn't make much sense to complain about a yoga teacher teaching yoga.
Clearing your mind (more or less) is what yoga is about. That's not to say you can't do whatever you want with it, or just not do yoga if you don't wanna, or whatever. Truly. But it doesn't make much sense to complain about a yoga teacher teaching yoga.
I was just trying to explain one reason why I, personally, don't like yoga. Not saying that the instructor was doing something wrong. Just like I would complain (in my head - not out loud - I certainly would never SAY that stuff about yoga above to an instructor!) about being forced to watch a horror movie or read a romance novel or listen to modern country music - I'd complain because I don't like them, but I wouldn't be trying to say that the director/writer/artist was doing something wrong by producing those things.
Sorry to hijack the thread so much folks, I'll stop now.
mayness - glad you didn't take my comment as criticism because that isn't what I meant at all. with your clarification I understand what you meant - heck today in class all i could think about was what I was gonna eat for lunch when I got out! so probably not a "great" yoga class from a purist point of view but that is where I was! My approach to all things is to do what works for me and, certainly, I always want to extend that courtesy to others! Cheers!
Yoga...who has tried it?
I guess I wouldn't be a good target for hypnosis either, lol.
but now I love 3FC even more because I didn't get flamed all to heck. 
Love you chicks!
Clearing your mind (more or less) is what yoga is about. That's not to say you can't do whatever you want with it, or just not do yoga if you don't wanna, or whatever. Truly. But it doesn't make much sense to complain about a yoga teacher teaching yoga. 
