What's your 'yoga' intention?

During the last couple of years a lot of people have come to Yogashala with the intention to practice yoga for many diverse reasons. The most common one we hear is the desire to relax – obviously there’s a vivid idea out there that practicing yoga is relaxing. Other reasons vary from wanting to be flexible to learning to breathe more freely, in between which there’s a broad range of ideas and assumptions. Some people seem to be afraid of giving yoga a try. We often hear arguments like ‘I’m not flexible’ and ‘yoga is for softies’.

Relaxation and yoga

Yes, yoga is relaxing. Depending on what style of yoga you engage your body in, the process of relaxation will vary. Dynamic yoga and Ashtanga yoga are what we call yang yoga styles: vigorous movement that causes your heartbeat to rise and your breath to become deeper and more alive, alternating contraction and relaxation of muscles to stimulate the entire musculoskeletal system, resisting gravity in movement and stillness, and movement to the rhythm of the breath to stimulate calmness in and lightness of the body.

Practicing yoga the yang way enhances relaxation when you’ve made it through the practice. It’s deeply satisfying to spend time in Savasana – a rest on the back – and allow the muscles to relax deeply, in passionate surrender to gravity. At the same time the mind is invited to calm down it’s activity even more as there’s nothing to be done or thought of in Savasana.

Yin yoga, in comparison - as the name already implies – is a ‘yin’ style of yoga: postures are held for a long time while allowing the impact of gravity, muscles are relaxed, for the most part, to reach other layers of the body that are more yin compared to the more superficial layer of muscles.Practicing yin yoga teaches you to relax even while you’re in poses for a long time, as there’s no need to move or think of what’s to be done next.

A 90 minute practice of Yin yoga prepares your system for a profound relaxation in Savasana as relaxation is rather a letting-things-happen issue and for that is very yin of character. In conclusion, in accordance with the explanation above: yes, yoga is relaxing, no matter what style you choose. You’ll of course will have to invest some time in learning the practice of your choice, including the relaxation part.

Most of us need to be given permission to switch from the doing to the being mode, mostly because we have been conditioned since we were little to value doing over being.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Flexibility and yoga

One of the great benefits of yoga is that you’ll gain flexibility. This will vary in people depending on age, gender and constitution, and what phase of your life you are in.

Yoga poses practiced in yang yoga styles stretches muscles while you contract them, Yin yoga, on the other hand, stretches muscles in a relaxed state. As mentioned before, Yin yoga mainly focuses on the deeper layers of tissue in the body, i.e. ligaments, tendons and connective tissue. An increase of flexibility of those parts allows more range of motion in the joints and increases the functionality of the entire musculoskeletal system, releasing overall tension.

As an added benefit, the innate connection of body and mind brings about the ability to think more flexibly as a result of an increased physical flexibility. It’s great to have a flexible body as it allows various movements with lightness and makes it enjoyable to move. It’s great to be able to apply flexible thinking to everyday life as

it’s the small changes that make life interesting and inspiring!

The real voyage of discovery consists not of seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

Yoga? But I’m not flexible!

Breathing and yoga

This seems to, unfortunately, be most often an issue for men, but women can have this opinion as well: ‘I can’t do yoga because I’m not flexible’.

What’s the point of doing yoga when you are already flexible? You can also maintain and enjoy your flexibility which will make you feel good and helps to get rid of tension that everyday life puts on your body. The people amongst us who really have to make an effort to bear the stretching sensations while practicing yoga, either the yin or yang way, will definitely feel how they grow in their yoga practice. It’s all about patience and consistency (with an addition of passion) which allows the body to gradually adjust through repetition and time.

Most of all it’s a great opportunity to acknowledge that not all things in life need to be driven by results. What counts, rather, is the intention we approach our practice with, which should preferably be based on satisfaction with the given circumstances and deep respect for our bodies that carry our mind and soul through this life.

Another great benefit of yoga is getting in touch with the breath. Breathing is one of the physical actions that life demands; being without breath shuts down physical functions very soon.

In a yang yoga style every movement is being synchronized to a phase of the breath, either the inhale or the exhale. For that you need to pay attention to the rhythm of the breath throughout yoga posture practice. When poses are held, the breath is your guide regarding your muscle's performance and your mind's engagement in the pose.

The more the mind engages with all its ideas and ideals about the pose you’re in, the more your muscles and breath will tend to reflect the ‘tight’ quality of your mind’s activities, they’ll simply tighten. Muscles will create unnecessary tension, while the breath will be restricted from free flow. Learning to respond to that will, through time, bring you into intimate contact with your breath, it’s natural rhythm in various situations in yoga and life, and the physical response and sensations of breathing.

A calm breath is a genuine guide to a calm mind!

		Yoga for softies? In addition to these thoughts, the assumption that ‘Yoga is for softies’ needs to be addressed. Regarding the yang styles of yoga, nothing could be further from the truth. “Softies” won’t stand a vigorous practice that continues for up to 90 minutes and involves strong and sometimes heavy and/ or invigorating postures that you move your body in and out of, or hold in relative stillness. A yang yoga practice requires upper and lower body strength and – not to be forgotten – core strength, to be found in the trunk. Softies also won’t stand the idea of sweating as a result of body movement and increased breath volume that makes your heart beat faster and speeds up your metabolism. Regarding a Yin yoga practice – you’ll need a healthy ability to determine between pain and a simple stretching sensation. And yes, holding Yin yoga poses to stretch the deeper tissues in the body can be on the edge of experiencing pain. Pain is not for softies, is it?
Everybody who doesn’t want to give yoga a try because of being afraid to fail could also be classified as a Softie...So what do you think of now when you say ‘Yoga’? Welcome to Yogashala - reach out to simply make yourself feel great, flexible, and strong. Learn to be in touch with your breath and body, and achieve deep relaxation!

Yoga for softies?

In addition to these thoughts, the assumption that ‘Yoga is for softies’ needs to be addressed.
Regarding the yang styles of yoga, nothing could be further from the truth.

“Softies” won’t stand a vigorous practice that continues for up to 90 minutes and involves strong and sometimes heavy and/ or invigorating postures that you move your body in and out of, or hold in relative stillness. A yang yoga practice requires upper and lower body strength and – not to be forgotten – core strength, to be found in the trunk. Softies also won’t stand the idea of sweating as a result of body movement and increased breath volume that makes your heart beat faster and speeds up your metabolism.

Regarding a Yin yoga practice – you’ll need a healthy ability to determine between pain and a simple stretching sensation. And yes, holding Yin yoga poses to stretch the deeper tissues in the body can be on the edge of experiencing pain. Pain is not for softies, is it?

Everybody who doesn’t want to give yoga a try because of being afraid to fail could also be classified as a Softie...So what do you think of now when you say ‘Yoga’?

Welcome to Yogashala - reach out to simply make yourself feel great, flexible, and strong. Learn to be in touch with your breath and body, and achieve deep relaxation!