The Adventure of the Yoga Discovery

So here's a sentence I'd never thought I'd write: I've got into yoga. 

It all began in the Autumn when I was suffering from the latest bout of back pain. Every so often I have back pain and around once a year or so I get it really badly. The last bad one occurred when I was carrying three sheets of paper back from the photocopier, which is an indication that there isn't really a trigger. I did some research for things that would make a difference. One thing that kept coming up was "lose some weight" which is fine but that can't happen overnight. Another was yoga and I hesitantly gave it a go. I did some Googling and found some stuff online by a lady called Adriene. To my surprise, I found out I rather liked it.

Doing it in my small bedroom at my parents house wasn't very easy so I didn't really do it very often but when I moved into my flat I started doing in from my living room. It went from an occasional thing to me buying a yoga mat and now doing it most days. I go to the loo, have a drink and then the next part of my morning routine is twenty minutes or so of yoga.

I think these days yoga tends to be seen as a feminine activity. That concept alone seems odd because we all have human bodies so gender shouldn't really play a part in it. Besides, if you go back a little into yoga's history and look back to it's routes in India, you'll discover that it was traditionally practiced only by men.

I also think that many people that know me would think that I lack the co-ordination for yoga. Weirdly though I find I'm actually not bad. I've always been very flexible and could always get my foot up to my shoulder without too much bother. Often yoga videos suggest a slightly easier way to do the position if you are struggling but I find that 90% of the time I have no trouble doing the harder version. Balance is more of an issue so the more difficult moves involving handstands are not achievable for me but who knows, maybe one day they will be. 

I am generally quite a self-conscious person and I know there's no way I could face doing yoga in public in a class. Anyway, for much of the time I've been into it classes haven't even been operating due to the pandemic. But there's no need to feel self-conscious when I'm in my own living room, so I have no qualms about trying any position, even if the really hard ones are almost certainly going to result in failure. 

My experience of yoga was limited but it was mostly at work as yoga has been found to have lots of benefits for children, especially those with autism, aiding concentration and keeping them calm. This seemed to work but I was always put off when I came across the more hippie side of it. This includes talking about chakras and energy and I've been baffled by yoga teachers that have talked about holding balls of energy. This is obviously bullshit. I mean, I'm not a spiritual person and this seems to make no sense whatsoever. 

What I do believe in is science and the research on yoga suggests various benefits. It's certainly helped with my back pain which was the main reason for getting into it in the first place. Yoga builds muscles and increases flexibility, meaning I'm less likely to strain my back in everyday life. It's also been proven to reduce inflammation and I think my worst back pain occurs when an area is inflamed and irritates a nerve.

That side of things was not unexpected but what I hadn't anticipated was the positive impact on my mental health. My mental health has long had it's ups and downs, some especially low, and though I'm perhaps at the best place I've been with it in my adult life, it still has it's peaks and troughs. Various studies have concluded that yoga helps to reduce the levels of cortisol, the hormone which affects stress and anxiety. I've certainly noticed the difference and it always surprises me that when I leave the mat I feel better than when I started. 

I think it's essentially because yoga is a form of mindfulness. In that moment I'm not looking at my phone or thinking about the stresses of everyday life, I'm concentrating on my breathing and feeling the stretch in my body. It slows the heart rate and clears the mind. Gradually yoga has shifted in my mind from something I feel I ought to do to something I want to do. 

This post is the first time I've told anyone at all that this is something I've been doing. I can't even explain why, I just feel embarrassed by it.. On the few occasions my Mum and Dad have been round to my flat I've even hidden my yoga mat in a cupboard. I've concluded though that I shouldn't be embarrassed and anyway, it doesn't matter what other people think. Moving into my flat has provided an opportunity for self-improvement and this is just a small part of it.