Have you looked at yourself at the mirror and found yourself asking existentialist questions? Sometimes the biggest battle happens in our own mind. It happens within the limits of our own mind. Becoming bigger than your current state is the toughest challenge. Somehow the need unleash yourself is just so strong. But you don’t know just how far our mind can go. As you unleash yourself, you need to hold back as well.
I’ve experienced that. I’ve experienced that no matter what I do, there’s just no rhyme and reason. And when I go overdrive, my mind can’t focus on the other things. Doing other things prove futile and useless. Your past, present, future, aspirations, frustrations and pressures suddenly flash right before your eyes ad you don’t know what to do. You become a slave of your own mind. It’s gone out of control. And yet while that’s a good escape you know there’s work to be done, deadlines to meet, family to attend to and responsibilities to be aware of. But your mind has gone 20 miles ahead. You are beyond control. Yes, stress.
At this point, you know you need to control yourself. But the mind has gone too far already. What do you do?
I learned that stopping the mind is a challenging task. Focusing back to the here and present is the only way to go. I stop, close my eyes and take a deep breath. I inhale positive energy and focus. I visualize putting the useless thoughts to trash bin and then move on. I think of a serene environment and where I conquer my own mind. I put my mind in slow mode and things start to slow down a little.
I didn’t learn this the fast way. I learned this the yoga way. Yoga to many may sound very daunting. Though it has been practiced for decades now, it’s gained pop culture status only quite recently. It was only when Madonna started advocating Kabbalah and Pilates that it became mainstream. Yoga has been practiced by ever-serene and peace-loving monks for the longest time. They have lived spiritually, physically and emotional stable lives and they are all yoga practictioners. Can it really be possible that yoga can do that?
I am not a yoga expert, and don’t expect everything I say here are general truths. But I would say that as a convert, this is my testimony. This is my personal truth and discovery on a lifestyle called yoga. Please read on.
While yoga has been a buzz word for years now, people are still wary about doing yoga. Kasama na ng yoga yung different misconceptions that go with it. I’ve listed five popular misconceptions on yoga.
1. 1. Yoga are for monks only. It’s intimidating.
2. 2. Yoga are for the flexible. I can’t even lift my own bag!
3. 3. Yoga are for sissies. It will make me less of man if I do that.
4. 4. Yoga will help make lose weight.
5. 5. Yoga is redundant. I do weight training and aerobic exercises anyway. It will not help me achieve my weight goals.
Again, this is my personal view about yoga and my little knowledge on such topic. These are my personal reflections.
1. No. Yoga are not just for monks. Monks practice them for a reason. They want to control their minds and focus on the more important things in life. That is finding God in their hearts. While they are active practitioners, they are not the owners of this.
If we trace the origin of yoga, yoga were a series of stunts that this demi god offered to god Vishnu. It was his way of expressing how magnificent the god was. More important, the stunts and the poses are itself a manifestation of how passionate and intense his power was.
Today, I find yoga to find my inner peace, then finding God in my own heart. When I do the poses, I always secretly pray that I can do the pose right. I concentrate and i feel very happy when I am able to complete it. While concentrating on the pose, I talk to God and find inner peace. When I do my poses I make sure nothing else is in my mind but just achieving the stunt. I box my mind to think just one thought. Pursue excellence and carry the task on hand.
That’s good discipline. And even when I work I apply the same discipline. When I need to accomplish the task and need to devote my full energy, I only think of work as if it were the pose. Then I am able to fulfill the task.
Remember, when you do yoga, you need to come in with a clean mind. Leave the world behind and just concentrate on the here and now. Don’t pressure yourself just keep it within reach. Concentrate and take a deep breath and enjoy life.
2. 2. Nakaka pressure nga mag yoga. Seeing all those magnificent poses and stunts can be really daunting. And in fact it’s easy to dismiss at this point that you cannot do it. And why not, you’ve never done any stunts and poses like that elsewhere?
But remember, if other people can do it, why can’t you? The ONLY reminder you need to remember is that what you see is not necessarily the only option available to you. The beauty of yoga is that it has levels that you can do and yet achieve the same results.
Do not force yourself to do poses when you are not ready. But you will see that as you progress you hunger for more and the poses become easier and more fulfilling.
Remember to always ask the teacher to provide a brief on the pose and what specific muscle/part of the body ang dapat tamaan and you will be fine. Remember too that there’s a reason for every step. Remember to breath. Just be comfortable. Wear comfortable clothes. And be confident. People are there to learn and not to compete. Don’t be ever disheartened if you are lagging behind your classmates. It took them months of practice to get there. Keep practicing too. Just be yourself and ask. Flexibility is not the issue, it’s trust (on yourself).
3. 3. Just because you do yoga it means you’re too girly. Yoga in fact is not for the faint hearted. It takes a certain sense of adventurism and daringness to perform the poses. How can you say that a man/woman who stand by their hands or palms is a sissy? Yoga is all about pushing it a little bit more. It’s outdoing yourself on every challenge.
Since the statistics show that most of the participants of yoga are women it doesn’t mean this is a territory meant for women. Remember, yogis were largely of male monk contingent. It’s just that women these days have become more daring and open to the idea that they try that more.
Are you afraid of stretching too much your family jewels might get affected? Don’t worry, it won’t (if you do it right). Or are you afraid that women will outdo you?
Women there are having fun. Women see this as an opportunity to really have a production number. They put on waterproof and organic make up this thick it will stop sweating. They wear all these Aura and Lulu outfits to complement their make up and gears to match that of a Hollywood star. But more important, they pack in a lot of confidence and tapang to perform the task. It’s no easy feat I see from these women who dare.
Are men afraid to do the same? Can men really become as daring as women?
4. 4. While there are yoga schools who promise instant weight loss, we need to go beyond this. Losing weight is just (pardon the irony) icing on the cake. All the yoga practice and poses, the lifestyle it preaches to you (vegetarianism) and the posture all help make you live a better life. With restraint, control and daringness, you eventually live a healthier lifestyle and therefore leaner.
You look taller all of a sudden because your posture has bee fixed. You walk taller and with a straight back now. When you eat with restraint, you lose the unnecessary calories. When you practice yoga, you dare for more. You just to keep improving yourself and doing more and more. You look for it. You just can’t satiate yourself anymore. You just have to do it. This whole process makes you live a healthier life, therefore leaner.
In certain classes like the Bikram, you are forced to sweat it all out inside a heated room. You lose the water pounds and the bloat therefore you lose weight. But that’s subject for another entry.
5. 5. It’s not true that yoga is redundant for those who lift weights. I lift weights and see beyond this truth. I need to practice yoga because it’s a good way to warm up or slow down. It relaxes my muscles. It also renews my cells (deep breathing gives us anti-oxidants that cleans our cells from free radicals) therefore more efficient recovery. But more important, yoga gives me discipline. To just give more and more, don’t stop and just keep lifting. That helps me prime up my work out.
Core training is important. Yoga packs in a whole lot of benefit in as far as developing proper abdominals. You should know that the basic of fitness is having a strong core/abs. Without it, your big back, biceps and triceps and chest are all gone to waste. A strong core means a strong and fit body.
In Taoism, the core is called such because that’s where the source of life or chi originates. Without the core or chi, we are dead. There were specific martial art stunts that could pull the chi out of you from your abs. That’s why it’s important to have a strong abs as it not only provides a tough endoskeleton, but also provides life. And in yoga, the core is indeed the core of its teaching.
There are different levels of yoga. I suggest that you go visit one of the classes soon. Maybe try Vinyasa where they teach the more basic stuff. Or hit the gym where they also offer classes there. Do it with a friend or something. But just enjoy.
I close this by saying: re-discover a new you when you do yoga. Learn to control yourself and see how far you can go. Gumanda na ang katawan mo, gumanda pa ang buhay mo. Now, beat that.
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