As I culminate my senior project I decided it would be a good idea to write a little advice for people who want to follow in my yoga project-y footsteps. Here are some tips and also a plan for implementing your senior project, yoga style.
1) START EARLY! This is perhaps the most important thing. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PROJECT FOR THE LAST MINUTE! Especially if it is yoga. Although I have no time in my life I have been sporadically practicing yoga since November.
2) Research before going to classes! Yoga teachers will often tell you to do the downward dog pose or chaturanga and also allude to the yoga philosophy. Having done your research on the history, types, and practice of yoga beforehand will leave you extremely less confused. A really good book is The Science of Yoga by William Broad (I think). It is actually interesting!
3) Determine which type of yoga you want to practice. There are so many types and all have different benefits and intensities. For me I felt that the traditional vinyasa yoga would be best for me (there is no way I wanted to do hot yoga [Bikram yoga])
4) Do at least one home video workout. This is a little bit like research. You will better understand the poses in an actual yoga class if you have some experience under your belt.
5) Don't only do yoga at home. I did this for the majority of my project and it really made me hate yoga. I also never knew if I was doing the poses right.
6) Have fun and clear your mind!
NAMASTE
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Why I hate P90X
After months of suffering through that workout out video I have come to the conclusion I really hate it. Here is why.
1) The instructor's, Tony, voice is not soothing at all like the yoga teachers at actual classes. The result of this is that it does not calm you down at all, which is something you do want for yoga.
2) By doing yoga at home you never know if you are doing something right. I am not lucky enough to have my own personal yoga studio at home so I do not have a mirror to see how I am doing. It also makes you way more prone to injuries. I always over extend my shoulder during those open chest poses and it's really starting to hurt. I hate not getting feedback from the instructor.
3) Yoga X is way too extreme, it doesn't really have the kind of spiritual side thing to it as the classes do. Their main purpose is to make you sweat so you don't really get the effect of mental cleansing as well.
4) Practicing yoga at home provides for far too many distractions and temptations. For example today my mother tried to talk to me about donating my old glasses while I was in the middle of a sun salutation vinyasa and it was really distracting.
5) Doing Yoga at a studio with other people makes me want to try harder because I sort of make competition with them inside my head. Where as at home, I am all by myself and easily just give up when I want to.
Basically I hate Yoga X very, very much and I am so glad I am almost done with my project. Yoga is hard and I am not sure if I would continue it in college. But maybe I will find a class that I really love and change my mind?
1) The instructor's, Tony, voice is not soothing at all like the yoga teachers at actual classes. The result of this is that it does not calm you down at all, which is something you do want for yoga.
2) By doing yoga at home you never know if you are doing something right. I am not lucky enough to have my own personal yoga studio at home so I do not have a mirror to see how I am doing. It also makes you way more prone to injuries. I always over extend my shoulder during those open chest poses and it's really starting to hurt. I hate not getting feedback from the instructor.
3) Yoga X is way too extreme, it doesn't really have the kind of spiritual side thing to it as the classes do. Their main purpose is to make you sweat so you don't really get the effect of mental cleansing as well.
4) Practicing yoga at home provides for far too many distractions and temptations. For example today my mother tried to talk to me about donating my old glasses while I was in the middle of a sun salutation vinyasa and it was really distracting.
5) Doing Yoga at a studio with other people makes me want to try harder because I sort of make competition with them inside my head. Where as at home, I am all by myself and easily just give up when I want to.
Basically I hate Yoga X very, very much and I am so glad I am almost done with my project. Yoga is hard and I am not sure if I would continue it in college. But maybe I will find a class that I really love and change my mind?
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Yoga of the mind?
When I first started my senior project I had a memorable conversation with a coworker. He cleaned a yoga studio in order to take free classes there and I was asking him about his yoga experiences. "Yeah, I've pretty much mastered yoga of the body, now I'm working on yoga of the mind," he said. I had no idea what this meant but just enthusiastically smiled and commented on how cool that was. Unfortunately he was fired not long after that conversation so I never really got know what yoga of the mind is.
So this past week I have been slowly reading this website (it's not long, but I keep getting busy) which is trying to explain yoga of the mind. It is one of the more confusing things I have read lately. http://www.teosofia.com/Mumbai/7408yoga.html
Anyways I think I need to know more about the history of yoga in order to understand. "Soul and mind have to be firmly united on one plane, under the afflatus of the overbrooding Divine Parent, Atma-Buddhi." All I am getting from this is that in order to achieve yoga of the mind you have to put your soul ahead of your desires, passions, feelings, and emotions. Also that self-purification should always precede meditation. Yoga of the mind does not seem like an easy task at all and certainly appears to be something I would never get around to accomplishing.
In other news I went to one more class at the gym with my friend and it was just the same, but I felt really sick so just ended up sitting around. It seems like all yoga instructors have a really calming voice. I have also been doing P90X Yoga and hate it so much. Maybe I will write a blog post about why P90X Yoga is terrible. I have also been reading an interesting book, the Science of Yoga. I will write more about that later though.
So this past week I have been slowly reading this website (it's not long, but I keep getting busy) which is trying to explain yoga of the mind. It is one of the more confusing things I have read lately. http://www.teosofia.com/Mumbai/7408yoga.html
Anyways I think I need to know more about the history of yoga in order to understand. "Soul and mind have to be firmly united on one plane, under the afflatus of the overbrooding Divine Parent, Atma-Buddhi." All I am getting from this is that in order to achieve yoga of the mind you have to put your soul ahead of your desires, passions, feelings, and emotions. Also that self-purification should always precede meditation. Yoga of the mind does not seem like an easy task at all and certainly appears to be something I would never get around to accomplishing.
In other news I went to one more class at the gym with my friend and it was just the same, but I felt really sick so just ended up sitting around. It seems like all yoga instructors have a really calming voice. I have also been doing P90X Yoga and hate it so much. Maybe I will write a blog post about why P90X Yoga is terrible. I have also been reading an interesting book, the Science of Yoga. I will write more about that later though.
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