What is Yoga really all about? New hours for Yin Yoga and Trigger Point Class in White Rock & Surrey, BC.

What is yoga really all about?

Is it time to learn more about what the hub bub is with all this yoga talk? Thinking that yoga is only for flexible people is not accurate. Simply put, yoga is a body-mind connection that can heal the musculo-skeletal system and improve mental health. Even more simply put, yoga is meditation

To think about what or how, or when to meditate is already making it much too complicated. What is meditation? Let's keep this simple by only thinking about breathing. Were we taught how to breath in school? Probably not. With meditating, the goal is to eventually sit and do nothing, and there is nothing to do but silencing the mind. Of course, this is very challenging. What happens when you meditate is there is a slowing down the heart rate, and creating peace inside by having all the systems regulating in balance, even just for that moment. We can all agree that it is worth spending a few minutes on breathing; at the very least to stop talking and think before we get too excited, right? The BIG thing to know is that even people who meditate on a daily basis they only reach a state of true meditation for only seconds, or minutes at the most, or even, if at all. 

If you decide to meditate, find a place to sit or even to lay down for comfort, knowing it is completely acceptable to fall asleep, even in a yoga class. If and when you do choose to lay down, it's usually because the body is too tired to sit. I recognize this deep trance-like feeling, and encourage the beginner to not judge it as less than what is truly going on, a deeper connection of the mind and body. 

Back to the yoga talk. This is why I love yoga; us westerners need something to do and yoga provides this. What I offer through releasing trigger points in conjunction with yoga is a whole lot of self-care. To create a greater space in the joints and tissues with a slow moving yin style yoga, the use of trigger point release is done with a few different sizes and types of balls, rollers, and other great props. Relaxing the body and mind with Yin Yoga prior to, as well as following the trigger point release, will help restore the body to its normal state (or perhaps even better than it was before). 

The yin yoga is where you basically sit on your mat and lay in a certain posture to open up, stretch, twist, or compress a joint where the muscle you just released can stretch. In making sure that the stretch is not harming the body will require practice, guidance, and a conscious mind to do less than what you may be used to doing. Less is more here, with most yoga practices, and this particular practice will avoid tearing or harming to the tissues. 

Remember, trigger points are knots of a contracted muscle that cannot stretch until they are released; any stretch otherwise can be damaging to the tissue. Learning how to breathe deeply will help HUGE to release more toxins that are being moved out into the blood stream. 

Yoga always includes the breath, and without it the posture cannot be maximized. Breathing mindfully with conscious awareness is a challenge at the best of times. Breathing consciously during a yoga posture that is very uncomfortable to hold and maintain the breath, this becomes your opportunity to enhance your yoga experience. Instant calmness in both the body and the mind.

One more time; Yoga IS Meditation. Learning to meditate in yoga gives you something else to focus on rather than just sitting. When the yoga posture is matched with the breath, the experience is profound! Sometimes it takes many classes to truly feel any improvement or connection with the breath. Never give up on yourself, and never give up on your yoga! (You may wish to go to my Facebook page to connect more with your own self-care.) 

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Rita Britnell said…
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