Lauren, I'm so sorry to hear that your experience with yoga wasn't that great. I also once went to a class where they had you breath at certain times. I couldn't get the hang of it either. BTW, there are several different styles of yoga and each one is different. I'd suggest trying a different yoga class, especially if you can find an Iyengar yoga class. That is what I've practiced for several years and there is no emphasis breath at certain times. The whole point is to get into a pose and stay there for a minute or more, have a relaxed breath and let your mind focus on the feelings in the different areas of the body and how to fix your alignment to be more precise. It's funny, but I haven't been in a class in awhile, but I can still hear my teacher's voice when I practice at home, "internally rotate your thighs in this pose .... make sure you're pushing down through your heels .... lift your sit bones to the sky!" Julia Indichova discusses discovering yoga as part of her infertility treatment in her book Inconceivable. She does mention that it is Iyengar yoga she practices. Which makes a lot of sense as this style of yoga does have physical therapy components. I started this because of my lower back problems, and it stopped me from needing to go to physical therapy 3x/week for sciatica.
So other things on my yoga practice. I'm really enjoying getting "to my mat" everyday. There are certain poses I have a difficult time with mostly backbends. I've been trying a ustrasana every day for a little bit, trying to build up my stamina for being is this pose. I know my problem is that these are the areas of my body I have a hard time opening up ... my heart, my abdomen. Knowing what I do about the emotional work in yoga, I believe I close these areas off to protect myself from pain, and I'm not talking physical pain although I know this area is tough on my lower back if I don't do it right and strengthen and elongate my back muscles. The exciting thing is that every day this pose is a little bit easier and I can stay here and do more work in the posture. V exciting!
The uggghh part of the day is I think we're going to have to sink a chunk of change into the transmission of DH's car. He went to Aberdeen, MD today and was having a hard time driving at higher speeds and it's making lovely noises. I told him we should see if we can drop off the car at the dealer tonight and they can look at it tomorrow. The bad part is that he has to go to school this Friday, so I may need to work from home that day and be without a car until he gets home on Saturday evening.
Talking about Saturday evening ...... go Eagles!!! I plan to be at home watching the game with all my fingers and toes crossed.
So other things on my yoga practice. I'm really enjoying getting "to my mat" everyday. There are certain poses I have a difficult time with mostly backbends. I've been trying a ustrasana every day for a little bit, trying to build up my stamina for being is this pose. I know my problem is that these are the areas of my body I have a hard time opening up ... my heart, my abdomen. Knowing what I do about the emotional work in yoga, I believe I close these areas off to protect myself from pain, and I'm not talking physical pain although I know this area is tough on my lower back if I don't do it right and strengthen and elongate my back muscles. The exciting thing is that every day this pose is a little bit easier and I can stay here and do more work in the posture. V exciting!
The uggghh part of the day is I think we're going to have to sink a chunk of change into the transmission of DH's car. He went to Aberdeen, MD today and was having a hard time driving at higher speeds and it's making lovely noises. I told him we should see if we can drop off the car at the dealer tonight and they can look at it tomorrow. The bad part is that he has to go to school this Friday, so I may need to work from home that day and be without a car until he gets home on Saturday evening.
Talking about Saturday evening ...... go Eagles!!! I plan to be at home watching the game with all my fingers and toes crossed.
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