30-Day Yoga Challenge

In my last post, I wrote about ways to explore wellness services at a discount. A few months ago, I purchased a LivingSocial voucher for $30 that gave me access to unlimited classes for 30 days at Dharma Yoga. I am now at the end of my 30 day pass, and committing to my yoga practice has allowed me to reflect on the role yoga has played in my life.

I started to practice yoga eight years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child. I was living in London at the time, and I found a fabulous community of women at The Life Centre who helped me feel physically and emotionally capable of transitioning to motherhood. As someone who has been active her whole life, yoga taught me to calm down, use my breath productively, and recognize how powerful feeling connected to my body– and my growing baby– could be.

I’ve continued to have an on-and-off yoga practice ever since. Over the years I have embraced the idea that yoga is about whole-being wellness rather than a workout. Once I stopped looking at how ‘inefficient’ yoga is as exercise, I started to enjoy it more. I’ve felt drawn to yoga as a component of my prenatal fitness because of the mind-breath-body connection on which it is based.

I knew that a 30-day yoga challenge would be good for me as I started the third trimester of pregnancy. As my running wound down, I needed a new component to my fitness plan. I decided that I would try to go to at least 10 classes in 30 days. This may not seem like a lot, but when you consider that each class is 90 minutes, and I have drive time each way, two hours a day three days a week is about all of the yoga my work/life balance could handle!

(I should note that Dharma Yoga does not offer prenatal yoga. While I wouldn’t recommend a pregnant woman who is new to yoga to go to Dharma, I found the teachers all very encouraging of my frequent modifications of poses and an overall welcoming atmosphere.)

There are two ideas that surfaced for me during the past month: one is that the individual, non-competitive nature of yoga, while antithetical to my dominant personality, suits me well during the introspective period of late pregnancy, and the second is that the weight and physiological changes of pregnancy force me to face the unwelcome truth that I can’t do everything I can normally do.

To the first point, I am reminded of the origins of my yoga practice: learning to breathe, learning to feel my baby’s movements within me, and learning to appreciate the blessing of being chosen to be a creative life force. Certainly these are ideas that are worth considering, appreciating, and feeling awash with awe at the significance of it all.

And the second lesson is one of humility. Being able to recognize my shortcomings and asking for help is not something that comes naturally. But community can be built only when others are allowed to take action, and who wouldn’t want to be a part of the excitement of new life?! I am trying to recognize that by asking for help I am including people in the miracle of the new life I am soon to meet, and everyone can use a little more positive, joyful interaction in life.

To the teachers at Dharma, I express my gratitude for creating a community where individuals are honored and encouraged to experience yoga in a way that is meaningful, both physically and emotionally.

Namaste.

Full Moon Yoga

Full Moon Through the Oaks of Austin

Last night I went to a nearly 15-year old Austin tradition: Full Moon Yoga. Led by registered yoga teacher Charles MacInerney, the free class is held on a scenic overlook above Lake Austin. Last night’s warm, breezy weather was perfect for experiencing yoga outdoors.

When I arrived just before the stated 7pm start time, there were already about 50 people there. The experienced folks not only had their yoga mats but a big picnic-type blanket spread out as well. The group was a wonderfully Austin mix of old and young, from several ethnic backgrounds, and some individuals as well as small groups of friends. By the time the class got started just after 7pm, there were at least 80 people there. Honoring the privacy of a yoga practice, I didn’t photograph the group. It was, however, an impressive and uplifting gathering.

Charles began the class with some seated postures. I breathed deeply, became focused, and enjoyed the feeling of the breeze on my body as I moved. I was conscious of the grasses crunching beneath my body as I shifted weight. I felt the still-warm sun on my face. For the first time in nearly eight years of an on-again, off-again yoga practice, I felt a connection between self, body, spirit, and earth. Within five minutes of the class start, I was hooked.

We transitioned to standing, and Charles encouraged the group to explore the different feeling between stretching the fascia and stretching the muscle. We explored postures where we could compare heaviness and lightness. At all times I felt very much part of the larger group, working in communion, but I never felt inadequate or like others were staring at me. (This is a common fear of friends and clients when I invite them to yoga with me.) I think that being in the open creates an atmosphere of grounding for all involved.

After several standing postures, including my favorite of all the asanas– trikonasa, the triangle pose–we turned our group practice toward the setting sun. With some guidance from Charles, we were encouraged to enter a balance pose of our chosing, focusing on the setting sun as our driisti. I chose natarajasana, Lord of the Dance pose. Standing on one leg with my eyes focused on the soft but powerful sun gave me an intense feeling of strength.

With the sun nearly down, we began a 10-minute meditation. Some people chose to stand and watch the sun drop below the horizon, while others took a more traditional savasana. As I laid on my mat, I could feel the now-cool air blowing over my warm body. The sounds of the evening rose up and filled my head as my body laid heavy on the earth. Before I knew it, I could hear Charles’s voice bringing everyone back together again.

We sat cross-legged in sukhasana and shared namaste with our teacher.

Fortunately for me, the class is held only a mile or so from my home. As I walked down the hill toward my house, I was quite literally guided by the rising full moon. It was spectacular; my photos from my phone do not do it justice.

By the time I got to my front yard, the sky was dark, the moon was bright, and I was happy.

What I will take with me from my experience, other than the confirmation that I much prefer outdoor exercise, is something Charles said that can be applied not just to yoga but to all aspects of life: “If there is no ease, there is dis-ease.”

Good health and great happiness to you.