Yoga has always felt like one of those novelty exercises
that celebrities rave about, but none of us normal folk have a clue why. I’ve
always found Yoga laughable when they do it on TV- can inhaling and exhaling
whilst in a tree pose really count as exercise? And you’re posing as a tree.
That’s pretty funny.
So, after deciding that running was just not happening this
morning I decided today would be the perfect time to find out what all the fuss
about Yoga was about. According to Google, there’s a lot of fuss- ads for
hundreds of Yoga classes near me and news stories about celebrities, such as
Gabby Logan and Nicole Scherzinger, who “swear by it” popped up. Hey, if Yoga
will make me look like Nicole, I’m down for anything. Yoga, according to
Wikipedia (a notoriously reliable source) was initially the physical, mental
and spiritual practices or disciplines which aim at transforming body and mind.
It was until the 1980s that the Yoga we know today became popular as a system
of physical exercise, known as Hatha Yoga. Who Knew? According to Ann Pizer,
the about.com guide to Yoga author, benefits include increasing flexibility and
balance as well as reducing high blood pressure, aches and pains and stress and
depression (pay attention all those needing to recover from A-Level
stress/trauma)
Needing to learn the basics of yoga in one day, YouTube
seemed a safe bet. There are tons of Yoga videos, ranging from the beginner
(i.e. me) to the advanced (i.e. not me.) If like me, you giggle at the term
“downward dog,” be warned- some of the poses will have you in hysterics, which
really just makes it all the more enjoyable. My yoga teacher for the day,
Esther, talks me through a 15 minute morning Yoga routine. “Do you wake up
feeling tired?” she asks. Yes. “Do you struggle to get going in the mornings?”
Hell yeah. This woman clearly knew I wasn’t a morning person. We started with a
few stretches and then a warrior pose, stretching your arms and legs out like,
well, a warrior. After a good 5 minutes
sticking my legs out at awkward angles that should not be possible for the
human body thinking “sorry, what is the point in this?” I actually started to
enjoy it a bit. During the meditation section, after having your limbs pulled
every which way, I actually felt better for it. I would definitely agree that,
even after one session, my stress levels had decreased and I felt generally
happier. This is because, according to Ann Pizer, “the concentration required
[for Yoga], your daily troubles, both large and small, seem to melt away on the
mat.” Although the metaphor is pretty extreme, this does seem on the whole
true.
So, would I try Yoga again? Not unless I have fifteen
minutes to kill, and if I do, it is usually spent watching Netflix, looking at
cat memes on Twitter or eating. As for the physical benefits, I didn’t really
notice any. But like with all exercise, I suppose you don’t get to see the
physical benefits for a while. Although it’s a great way to relax, I don’t
think Yoga is my bag. I found it all a bit hippie dippie and I didn’t come away
from it feeling like I had done any exercise, making me feel all the more
guilty for missing my run this morning. But I felt a lot better when I found a
slab of dairy milk chocolate in the fridge…
Happy Yoga-ing!
Love Georgia x
If you fancy giving Yoga a try, there are tons of tutorials
on YouTube, though I found this channel (Ekhart Yoga) particularly helpful:
For information about Yoga and its benefits, the NHS website
gives some good basic information, but for more in depth info, Ann Pizer’s
article on about.com is also good:
Interested in health, fitness and wellbeing? Check out the
blogs ‘Black Girls Run’ and ’20 nothing’ on my blog list to the right hand
side.
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