While this post is not really about food, it is about health so it fits perfectly in with the theme of sharing. And remember, sharing is caring and based on the length of this post, I care about all of you a lot!!
How this all began
A neighbor gave me a month Groupon to JoyYoga and I took this as a great opportunity to explore Yoga, try to understand it and see if and how it can assist me in my health and fitness. Plus, the name of the workout is the first word of "yoga pants" and I'm generally a fan of those.
Man can not live on back and bicep day alone, and we're allowed to graduate from dragging knuckle workouts. As you continue to work out through the years, we often neglect the importance of stretching and steady strength exercises. I wanted to take this trial serious and not just write yoga off without practicing a variety of styles. Over the course of a month, I attended about 14 classes of different types and levels. They included Salute the Sun(morning), Slow Flow, Flow, Rock Your Flow, Back to Basics, Insanity Yoga and Pilates Boot Camp.
Dis-spell the rumors and general funniness
- Yoga pants - even if it's only from thigh down, what American man would say they're not generally a great idea? However, it's more than just a fashion and ease thing, it's a functional thing. I realized while doing downward dog pose, my shirt kept flipping down in front of my face, making breathing more difficult. While you can do yoga in anything appropriate for it, the way some clothing fits just makes it easier. Don't worry, I didn't break out the tight Under Armour for classes.
- Your Practice - They refer to a yoga session as your practice. If you're like me, especially with football season starting up, practice means that your getting ready for something like the game, contest or tournament. They never said there's any of these coming up soon so I'm not really sure what we're doing all this practice for. Just think, if there was a tournament, we'd finally have some kind of ranking on who's actually best at yoga. There'd be expensive stretchy thin clothing sponsors and ESPN3 coverage, shown right after the Sam Houston football game. The champion would be awarded a soft thin foam flexible belt and unlimited flip flops.
- Got some new workout flip flops - You "practice" barefoot so the most common footwear to and from yoga is flip flops. If you're like me, it still feels wear saying, I'm heading to work out and then reaching for your workout flip flops. FYI, I didn't really buy new flops for yoga.
- You'll be Hindu - While it's origin does come from this background, I didn't find it hard to focus on God(the Biblical and living one), often making that my focus for the session. A lot of the times, I felt like the instructor was almost talking about Christian spirituality but it didn't quite hit the mark to get there. However, you can take the same words and apply it how you want. Remember, it's "your practice", so if you want to focus the baby Jesus in the manger or with the beard, make Him proud. Namaste means "The light in me honors the light in you." It's not that far of a jump how Christians are called to recognize that God dwells within them and we're called to see and honor the presence of God in others. For those Catholic friends, I haven't worked up the courage to say "And with your spirit." as a response to Namaste... maybe one day.
- Nap after working out? Yes please. - It's definitely something unique to yoga, but in every class I attended, there was a short period of time at the end of the class where you'd lay on your back, arms and legs relaxed and focus on calming yourself. Sometimes, you might actually knod off and it's perfectly normal. The instructor will guide you into relaxation and what's interesting is as they say to focus on things like, "relax your jaw", you realize you were fully clinching without realizing it. Now...relax your eye brows... asleep yet??
What made my flip flops happy
- It burns, it burns so deep - Most people just don't stretch enough. Whether tight from just sitting too much, jumping at volleyball, cross fit, or running, your muscles get tight. Not every class is focused on stretching, like Insanity Yoga. However, when I'd workout at lunch, I really appreciated the time in a yoga class later stretching and I really feel like it kept away the aches and pains from the non-yoga workouts. In addition to that, I felt like a good stretching class on my "day off" was just right, like Baby Bear's porridge that Goldilocks ate.
- Stand up straight - Its often easier said than done, but we spend so much time in a position of bad posture. One of the things I've seen consistent in yoga is a focus on keeping good posture, protecting your neck and spine, and always having specific positions while in a pose. The instructors really focus on how to protect yourself as you "practice".
- Just freakin' breath - Yoga focuses a lot on breathing, and not just random breathing, but inhaling and exhaling at the right time. Early on in junior high football off-season weight lifting, we'd be told to breath when we push up the weight. It's easy to forget that using your breath can help you push through that next rep, speed up that last km or push you into a deeper stretch. And the opposite of that is learning how to calm your breath and relax.
- Little change for big impact - While you might be doing a pose you've done several times before, there might be a slight adjustment that hits your muscles completely different. For instance, do a normal standing flat foot toe stretch. Now, put all the pressure on the outside edge of your foot and feel out the stretch goes to the outside of your legs. It's something to think about in other types of workouts where you just do the same thing with the same motion all the time.
The questionable or misunderstood
- E = MC2 - During several classes, the instructor would talk about energy transferring from other objects, such as the sun or the earth. Now if your using this metaphorically so the students can get the idea of what we should be doing, I'm good with that. I'm okay with faith of a mustard seed so I'm open to a parable, metaphor and symbolism, but I don't think that's what was being said in the class.
- Dirty Air - One of the things I heard when doing large expelling breaths was we're getting rid of the "dirty(or stale) air". Really, so the more air I expel forcefully from my lungs, I'll actually tapped into some air that wasn't flowing out on it's own? Maybe someone from the medical community can perform some mythbusters experiments about this.
- You know I don't speak sanskrit, English please - Each of the poses has an original name, one instructor saying there's over 200 basic poses. Each pose has a sanskrit name and I never know what I'm supposed to be doing when they say it. Once the name is said in English, it's not hard to remember how you're supposed to be in that pose. They include Downward and Upward Dog, Cobra, Frog, Triangle, Warrior, Dolphin, Tree, Eagle Arms, etc. Using sanskrit would be like giving orders to soldiers in Latin and seeing if they execute the mission. They're not being led by Cesar just as much as I'm pretty sure I'm just off Washington Ave in HTX so just speak English.
- Sweaty yoga - I don't get it. I did attend some heated classes and sweated about 1 1/2 towels worth, but it was only low 80's, maybe upper 70's. I generally didn't enjoy the excessive sweat. How some people do 100+ degree yoga and feel like they sweated out toxins, I don't know? I'd rather generate more heat from within I guess.
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