Skip to main content

Yoga Journal 4/12/18

In the yoga class that I regularly attend, the main role of the body appears to be a vehicle through which mental clarity and focus can be attained. I say this because the class typically emphasizes maintaining mental focus and focusing on the breath, as well as moving with the breath. This leads me to believe that the actual movements of the body are not the most important aspect of the class, but rather the mental clarity and focus are. Therefore, the role of the body is to assist with this focus by moving according to breath. This seems to deepen the focus and make it more challenging to focus solely on the breath. Certain postures make it easier to focus by not requiring strength, such as corpse pose. Others, particularly postures that have to be held for a long time and require strength, make focusing on breath more difficult. Combining easy and difficult postures into one class allows me to practice focusing (with easy postures), and to challenge myself to focus even when it is difficult (with harder postures). I don't know if this is an intention of the instructor, or if this is just how it seems to work for myself. Either way, based on instruction from the teacher to focus on breath, and the non-specific instruction given for physical postures, it seems that the main role of the body in my yoga class is to enhance mental focus and clarity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yoga Journal 2/6/18

This Tuesday I attended the same yoga class I have for the past two weeks. This week, class was more focused on breathing than holding postures. Unlike previous classes where the emphasis was on ujjayi breathing, this class was focused on alternate nostril breathing. This was something I had never done before, and it seemed very odd to me. I was unsure of why we were practicing it. Does it have benefits? Is it better than regular breathing? These are questions that ran through my mind while at class. While doing this practice, Stevie mentioned that alternate nostril breathing can be very effective for a stuffy nose and for calming anxiety, making it a useful tool to use in those situations, not just when doing yoga. In addition to alternate nostril breathing, we also learned the Tibetan five rights, a sequence of five moves, each done a certain number of times. Stevie told the class that this sequence moves every joint in your body, and that even though it wasn't too strenuous, we ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ashtanga Yoga- 2/22/18

If I had to sum up our in-class Ashtanga practice in one word, I would say challenging. The fact that it was challenging made it an enjoyable class, because I like exercise that challenges me and forces me to work hard. The most difficult aspect of the class was getting into some of the poses because they required so much flexibility, and I am only moderately flexible. The class stretched my entire body, especially my legs, which made me feel good afterwards. One aspect of the class that made a community atmosphere was how the entire class was arranged in a circle, with all of us facing towards each other. This brought a sense of togetherness to the class because everyone was facing each other instead of being in rows towards the front of the room. Another aspect of the class that made it feel like a community was how the class would look at each other for help for some of the moves. Because of this, we weren't doing yoga individually, but rather looking to our neighbors to see how...
1 comment
Read more

Yoga Journal 1/23/18

My first yoga experience was a free yoga class offered by Stockton at the lodge on Tuesday, January 23rd. Having attended this yoga class a few times before, I knew what to expect when I attended. The instructor of the class was the same women who I had taken classes with before, Stevie. Upon walking into the lodge, I was not surprised that most of the people there were female, with a few males scattered among them. Most people were dressed in athletic clothing and had their hair pulled up away from their faces. Most people had their own yoga mats, but had to borrow yoga blocks from Stevie. People set up their mats in rows and left a foot or two of space between one another. I notived that the atmosphere didn't seem very suitable for a yoga class due to the distracting noises coming from the kitchen in the lodge. While waiting for the class to begin, most people were sitting cross legged on their mats facing Stevie. Because it was the first class offered at Stockton t...
Post a Comment
Read more