Yoga Today

[Shannon_B]

Hi!

Yesterday was my first yoga today workout, and I liked it. I've never done yoga before so it was all new to me. Do any of you use yoga today? And if so, what are the greatest benefits that you've gotten out of it? I'm going to do another one tonight. So please and thank you!

 

[Vee]

Hi Shanon,

I learnt yoga in live class for over a year. I practise on my own now. Yoga is my favorite way to keep fit, but I do cross train with resistance training and cardio.

I have a larger collection of Yoga DVDs than any other type of exercise.

I dont use Yoga Today because bandwidth in India is too low for streaming video.

Some time ago, Yoga Today used to be available for download. I downloaded quite a few episodes and converted my favorite ones to DVD. I use these a lot.

I LOVE Yoga Today. Sarah Kline is one of my favorite teachers, including instructors on DVD. Adi Amar is pretty good too. Neesha spends too much time in most of her sessions talking versus actually doing yoga postures, otherwise she is pretty good.

The nice thing about Yoga Today is that not all episodes are Vinyasa or Power style (the style that is very popular in the West where you flow from pose to pose). Quite a few sessions are static-asana focused where you get into and hold a pose and perfect your alignment. This style of yoga is a GREAT way to learn because you actually learn the right way to do a pose. The right way isnt about how flexible you are but how you are able to align youself correct within your current range of motion without over stretching. I also like Yoga Today because the teachers have a background in various schools of yoga from Ashtanga to Kripalu to Kundalini and Anusara so you get a variety of influences from doing Yoga Today sessions. The sessions are beautifully shot and the cueing by all three instructors is excellent. I marvel at how they managed to film so many episodes and still maintain so much freshness/uniqueness/quality in each.

 

[Shannon_B]

Wow Vee! Thanks so much!

I just did a second beginner one, and it was nothing like the one I did yesterday so I see that there is tons and tons to learn! I was so relaxed by the end though...I'm looking forward to Wednesdays because it's one to release stress and tension in the neck and shoulders which is something I have a really bad case of.

What do you gain from doing yoga? Strength? I can already see the effects of it being a relaxation tool.

Thanks so much for the reply! You're in India? Awesome!!

 

[Vee]

What do you gain from doing yoga? Strength? I can already see the effects of it being a relaxation tool.

Shannon,

Physical yoga practise is like the ultimate functional fitness and rehab tool-kit.

Yoga was developed by spiritual seekers in India in ancient times who believed a healthy, strong body was a basis for any mental pursuit - whether a career or the search for "truth".

The bible of yoga is an ancient text called Patanjali's yoga sutras. All modern day schools of yoga derive from and interpret this vast text for different goals or focus-areas.

Physical Yoga works holistically on flexibility or range of motion, balance, strength and endurance. Several poses in yoga have a physical therapy effect in preventing injury by building strength and range of motion in muscle groups and can even be used to reahab injuries. Yoga poses can work like stretching or even like self-chiro to relieve tension in body parts like the neck and shoulders. The mental focus that is demanded by yoga in concentrating on the poses is a mental tool. It can be difficult and demanding at first to the point that you wonder - this is supposed to be relaxing? But over time, you learn to be completely present in the moment, let go of stressful thoughts and will experience a wonderful sense of mental rejuvenation when you complete a session. Yoga breathing exercises are powerful too. They teach you to use your entire lung capacity to breathe. Most people breathe really shallow - we dont engage all of our lungs. In some forms of yoga you then match breath to movement and use your breath to achieve the full range of motion. How everything including breath and stregth are interconnected with flexibility is an awareness that can be developed with regular yoga.

You dont have to practise every aspect of yoga. You can focus mainly on the flexibility and rejuvenation by practising routines that have poses to wind you down. You can engage in largely strength and agility focused yoga. Or you can mix bits of several objectives in the way that you combine poses. As you get deeper into yoga you will learn what you want to focus on.

For mind-development, there is more that you can do with yoga, but I guess that is a whole new discussion.

Sorry for my wordiness. As you can see, yoga is a passion with me.

Vrinda

 

[moni_stout]

Hi Shannon,

I have not tried Yoga Today, but if you found benefit from it, by all means continue. I have been practicing yoga for about 10 years, but over the last years have increased my practice. I have found a couple of teachers and try to attend class a couple of times per month. Otherwise I practice at home every day. The practice using the physical postures is referred to as asana practice. I typically practice asanas about five days per week. I practice pranayama (breath control) and meditation every day. My daily yoga practice has completely transformed how I carry myself in my daily life. I also walk most days, but my Cathe DVDs are now collecting dust. I have sold my dumbbell collection and am loaning out all of my DVDs to my mother. I still love to read this forum because there are incredible people on this forum . However, I no longer feel any need physically or mentally to do aerobics or lift weights. I also have to tell you that practicing yoga has definitely enabled me to maintain the strength I had developed using Cathe's DVDs. It has been over six months now since I last did aerobics or lifted weights and I have actually lost inches. I think for me that yoga helps me to be aware of my body and it's needs. Therefore, I tend to overeat less personally. I am not criticizing aerobics or weightlifting, I have just found that it is not for me anymore. I am currently attending a one year teacher training program so that I can start teaching part-time.

If you build yoga into your life, I would recommend at some point trying to work with a teacher a bit to ensure that you have proper form so you do not develop any injuries over time. There are definitely poses in yoga that could lead to injuries if you don't have proper form or alignment repeatedly.

Good luck,

Namaste, Monica

 

[GMonkey]

I enjoy yoga, but can't do an entire 30-60 minutes of either yoga or pilates because I get directional vertigo. I will usually do 6 days of Cathe/Firm/Wildcard rotations in the AM and then I do 10 minutes of yoga or pilates in the evenings a little while before bed. I'll do the 10 Minute Solutions or Exhale, which focus on a different body part per 10 minutes. I wish that I could do an entire yoga session without getting dizzy and nauseated!

Even with my 10 minutes at night, I can still tell the difference. Not only is it relaxing, but the work seems to go "deeper" into the muscles.

 

[RapidBreath]

what they said!

I do use yoga today. Its my favorite yoga source. However, I am also working through all of the yoga dvds available on netflix. Yoga is a unique practice. It (as Vee said) was designed to relieve the body of discomfort and tension so that you could pursue a meditative practice (or thats what one of the instructors said.) On NPR I heard that it puts the body into fat burning mode, I think thats when you are in a fiery kria (spl?) I started my weight loss journey with 15 minutes of yoga per day and 15 minutes of walking three times a week. I was morbidly obese. It helps move lymph fluid out of the tissues. The problem with lymph fluid building up is not just that you retain water (can you see it in your ankles?) it also feeds the fat cells.

I still do cardio. I do a lot of cardio, 60 minutes per wo in my THR seems to be golden for me. It seems to help me with my weight loss, mental out look and ability to absorb carbohydrates. I was told two years ago that I was insulin resistant. I don't appear to be that anymore. However, I don't know if my fasting glucose is a result of my ultra healthy lifestyle or if I am actually better. I'm not willing to take the chance to find out by eating poorly or not exercising. Every time I have tried eating poorly I put on pounds over night. So, I really don't like to go there.

Yoga today is the best. I love Sarah Kline. She is my favorite instructor. Also, don't forget Shiva Rae on dvd. You might check out some of the yoga magazines. They are fun to read and if you go to a book store you can look through one without buying it

sorry for the length of my post

 

[Shannon_B]

Thanks so much you guys!

I never knew that all of that went behind yoga Vee! Whenever I see a yoga instructor, they always seem so zen and I would think whaaat are they on?? haha! But now I totally understand! It is definatley something that has to be learned! Thank you so much for all of that information! I'm so glad I made this post because you all have encouraged me to continue.

GMonkey, that's weird that it does that to you. But great that you still make time to do it! I hope that if I keep practicing, I can gain more strength and flexibility.

Monica, wow! That really is amazing that you were able to maintain strength from Cathe! I would really like to go to a class, but right now it's easier to just do it off the computer. Do you know if LA fitness has a yoga class? Because yesterday I was at the grocery store and a kid was selling candy bars and he was so cuute I bought one, and then two trainers from LA Fitness were like "Alriiight! You get a free week pass to our gym for getting that candy bar!" LOL I couldn't help but laugh....what a weird way to go about it...but if I use it, I would like to take a yoga class.

Hey RapidBreath! I like Sarah kline too! I did one of hers yesterday! And I used to have netflix, but I cancelled it because I realized that I don't really watch movies! But being able to get fitness dvd's (which I just found out from you) is making me rethink my membership!