How Were You Introduced to Yoga?

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Permalink Reply by The SaladMander on August 10, 2008 at 5:34am

My mom would do yoga everyday, and me and my friend used to join in and copy her. Then she'd guide us.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy on August 14, 2008 at 8:28am

I had just decided to leave art school for a while after some success with art galleries because I wanted to be a dancer. There is no classical dance training in my background. I was 22. I decided to start with yoga instead of ballet b/c I felt like the ballet training then would be intimidating and yoga not. It was the best decision ever. From there I developed a career as a professional swing dancer but it couldn't have started without the yoga which gave me strength, flexibility, body-awareness, and the greatest lesson of all: how to BREATHE.

I stopped dancing after four successful years. I loved the dancing but not the performance and competition and constantly being away from my boy-toy, now husband. But I've kept up with the yoga and after 10 years of it am exploring teaching.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Bruno on August 14, 2008 at 9:28pm

I found yoga while recovering from a head injury and neck injury. The brain injury was "mild," although that's a misnomer when it comes to your noggin. The neck injury was pretty severe, but without requiring surgery. Since the brain injury kept me from working, that took front stage as far as out-of-pocket treatments went.

One day, I felt really called to attend some lecture at an Episcopal church way across town. I couldn't drive, so walked there and knew I'd need to find a way home because night would fall during the lecture. I met a woman named Rachel there, who ended up living about 2 blocks from me. She drove me home and we figured at some point we would reconnect. Two weeks later she called me, desperate for a dog, cat and fish sitter as her family had planned a surprise birthday getaway for her. Since at the time I was disabled and had nothing else to do, I said sure.

The first day at her house I saw a magazine with an interview of Madonna, who credited yoga with sculpting her ripped arms. I thought, "Hey, if it worked for Madonna, maybe it will work for me." I missed my former exercise, which my neck injury prevented, and I could not afford to treat the brain injury AND have physical therapy. I bought a 20-minute DVD, and the first time I did yoga, I swear I grew an inch! Something in my neck released, and I made huge leaps in my visual therapy. My vertigo disappeared, and I gradually relearned how to process things sequentially--a skill that had flown away with the rest of my left brain after my car accident. While I can't say yoga completely healed me, it certainly helped me push through major plateaus. Now 99% recovered from both injuries, I have better balance, better thought processing and stronger arms than I ever did pre-yoga, or pre-injury for that matter!

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Permalink Reply by Uti on August 15, 2008 at 12:26am

Awesome story Laura! Good for you.

What you described about your neck releasing is what I've experienced and witnessed in others. The body contracts to protect an injured area and becomes misaligned. Yoga coaxes the body into releasing and softening and sometimes the body will realign itself dramatically.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Bruno on August 16, 2008 at 12:06am

Yes, I just love yoga for that reason. It's so transformative.

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Permalink Reply by Uti on August 20, 2008 at 1:06pm

His name is Baba, which is just a simple recognition of an elder male in India. He is not Indian. Standing Wave Yoga came from his own experiences as he healed his own body. My words at describing the yoga will fall short of his, but good news is coming. These days he is fairly reclusive, but has consented to doing a local community radio interview on Sunday August 31 at 9:30 am PST on a program called Spiritual Perspectives, which will be hosted by my friend and fellow yogi, Ganesh. You can listen to it live on the web by going to the KMUD radio website - http://tinyurl.com/26rzfg

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Permalink Reply by Uti on August 20, 2008 at 1:30pm

Hey Pete, I'm not a pretzel guy myself, but love it that it's possible for a human bod to do those things. You touched on the thing that's important for me: Is my life improving? Saying goodbye to a painful limiting back is much more important to me than putting my foot behind my head (especially while not wearing my briefs and sitting across the room from a beautiful woman ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Uti on August 25, 2008 at 2:01am

Thanks for reminding me about the humor doshas Pete. Now I can idenyify the fartas in my classes. I know I've had to restrain my snickering a time or two when some tofu muncher was breaking wind.

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Permalink Reply by Shayla aka YogaFruitGirl on August 24, 2008 at 12:45pm

I was a sushi waitress in Santa Cruz, CA back in '01. One day, two women were seated in my section. One was young & cute but the other woman was a bit older and striking, had a gorgeous glow! As it was the end of the night, I had a few extra moments to chat. It turns she was in town to help open a Bikram yoga studio and get this, it was opening right down the road from my house! She shared the benefits of yoga and I said, "I'm in, I want the glow you have." She wisely smiled and said, "You'll discover beauty in you that you didn't know was there." And she was right!

Coming from Indian descent, yoga is a part of my heritage but it wasn't until my late 20's that I it entered my life. I think I rebelled against my culture in my early youth trying to be an "American girl."

I practiced Bikram for about 5 yrs, then tried other styles: Kundalini, Hatha, Ashtanga, Vinyasa. I always say I have yet to meet a yoga practice I didn't LUV!

Today, I am in recovery from serious medical issues & brain damage. Of all the things from my previous life I miss, I miss yoga the most. But I am not giving up. I do what I can now and hopefully will achieve new heights.

Om Shanti.

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Permalink Reply by Uti on August 29, 2008 at 8:16pm

Shayla, So what does your yoga practice look like after your medical problems. Do you still do a practice?

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Permalink Reply by Shayla aka YogaFruitGirl on August 29, 2008 at 10:02pm

One of the symptoms of the brain damage I sustained is total lack of equilibrium. I have no balance and no sense of where I am in space unless I am gripping something. Thus, standing postures are out right now. I am doing chair yoga and I can do floor postures (cobra, bridge, etc.)

Oh, I have found that I can do some standing postures (like tree) in a pool. The water holds me up and gives me freedom!! I joke that it's tough being Shayla right now, but I am persevering and working towards my miracle :))

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Permalink Reply by Uti on August 29, 2008 at 10:23pm

Just keep letting the yoga do you Shayla. You will heal.

I've had some equilibrium issues too. I had sudden hearing loss in my left ear which also affected the inner ear and my balance. Then I slid off a damp metal roof and crushed the bones in my right heel and ankle. It took years to regain my balance and to be able to do standing balance poses again.

The Standing Wave Yoga beginning practice I've been doing weekly for 10 years is totally on the floor and is wonderful for people with spinal issues. It's very gentle, but it also addresses the total body from the feet to the crown. I do some seated practices too, Hurdler's stretch, Lotus prep and Lotus warm up.

One of the downsides to being so far apart and on the internet is that we can't just meet tomorrow at a yoga studio and share practice together.

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