If you would have told me a year ago that I’d be making time every morning to do yoga, I’d have believed you because, actually, I’m sort of gullible. But still. It would have seemed far-fetched. I’ve never thought of yoga as a workout. Workouts are supposed to raise my heart rate, build muscles, make me sweat. There should be a great deal of movement and, where applicable, some ridiculous manly groans to show how hard I’m working.
Yoga’s slow, flowing moves have always seemed kind of wussy to me. Pretty, but not really, you know, a workout.
I started doing yoga because of an injury. I kept doing it because I liked being more flexible, more balanced. But the most amazing thing for me is that when I do yoga, I’m quiet. My brain gets quiet, and that’s a big deal. I’ve blogged about my unquiet brain before, the way it jumps from one thing to the next at lightning speed, buzzing all the time. Focus and flow are elusive for me; my efforts at meditation have been less than Zen.
But yoga is my meditation. Rather than emptying my mind, or letting go of thought, I focus my mental and physical energy on the flow from one pose to the next, on my breathing, on holding each position for as long as I can. I try to be graceful (some days are better than others), and I introduce new moves every week or so, so that I stay challenged.
I’m still a novice. I’m only just getting past the basic beginning positions, but I love yoga. I love the mind-body connection, the quietness of it (which doesn’t prevent it from being as strenuous as you want it to be). It doesn’t work miracles. I’m still pretty easily distracted, my mind is still jumpy and scattered, but yoga does start me off in a calmer place.
My favorite part comes at the end of the workout when I set my intention. When I took my first yoga class, a year ago, the instructor would recite possible intentions. She would say, in her misty sing-song yoga voice, “Set your intention now… to find peace in your day, to love your neighbor, to be tolerant and forgiving…” Of course those are excellent intentions. Mine don’t tend to be so pretty. Here are some of the intentions I’ve set for myself:
- Sway, shimmy, shake… Dance
- Get the hell out of my imagination’s way
- Disturb the force
- Rock and roll
- Be seen
- See
So how do you get quiet? Or do you? Is it necessary for you? Do you meditate? (I originally typed medicate. Feel free to share that too!
25 responses so far ↓
terrepruitt // November 18, 2009 at 1:37 am |
I love that you love Yoga. Originally when I tried to do Yoga a couple of years ago, I had a DVD and I couldn’t get past the beginning breathing. I too, wanted a moving type of workout. I understand it better now. And I can sit still for the breathing in the beginning and in the end.
But . . . .I get quiet by getting still. I slow my breath and sit still. In Nia (always with the Nia!) we call it RAW: Relaxed, Alert, and Waiting. RAW can be practiced for many things, one use for us is, we use it to learn our music.
I have been practicing RAW to become a better listener. I get still and slow my breathing. Then I relax, stay alert to the person talking, and I wait to see what happens next (will I have a question, will I have an answer, will I learn something, etc.)
I don’t meditate nor medicate! :-)
chezhui // November 18, 2009 at 6:25 am |
Hi Judy,
I did Yoga because I had this amazing 80+ year old teacher Mrs. Wini (who could drill us like an army Sargent). She really did teach me to slow down and mediated. I found her tapes with bells the best for me. But alas, she had some heart issues this year and gave up teaching. Hang in there – it took me over 5 years to feel the calm.
I miss her dearly, and her class. Doing Yoga by myself is just not the same – but I do try and meditate just before bedtime. Sometimes in my insomnia I think I should medicate!
Mostly now I do weights to calm down, weird I know but it works for me.
PS. I still dislike the plow position
Mairi
Tricia // November 18, 2009 at 7:20 am |
If ever there was a case for needing yoga, it’s me.
I’ve given it a try, but alas, I’m too brain cluttered to empty it. I’ve given medication a try as well. But alas, I tried too hard and reached a point of adverse chemical reactions. Bummer for that.
Now I’m just regular ole me, flying off in ten different directions, which reminds me of the post I was going to write today, if I ever get to it.
judy // November 18, 2009 at 7:38 am |
Terre, Well, the quiet I can achieve in yoga doesn’t carry me through the day and I don’t know how to breathe my way through stress (though that totally makes sense). Right now I just sort of hang on to residual yoga effects until they wear off and I start acting like Tricia. ;-)
Mairi, I do think it matters who shows you the first time. My first teacher wasn’t 84 (she sounds awesome), but she was big and powerful and sexy, and she could bend in ways I hadn’t even considered. I wanted to be like her. Now I do it on my own, but I’d love to find another teacher and “officially” learn more.
Tricia, We would be comical together. Yoga only works for me because I don’t actually clear my mind, just focus on the pain… er, pose. Now, stop playing with me and write a post. I’ve checked a dozen times since your last one. The suspense is killing me.
Tall Pajama Man // November 18, 2009 at 7:41 am |
I must start at the end and work my way to the beginning… can I say that I love the fact that your quiet and calm leads to lofty loud intentions, almost like a martial arts master summons all of the energy at their disposal into a single point for the ultimate punch… it is not just preparing to dance, it is setting yourself deep in the launch spring, the catapult, and then cutting the cord… That inspires me… must be awesome to be a spectator in that process…
So, quiet… where do I how do I? I guess outside of prayer times, which tend to be more conversational, I find my quiet comes in the oddest of places: in the car – I find driving to be my sanctuary (yes, even in traffic), where I get in, turn on my background music (unless I’m in the mood for DEMO… then it’s definitely not quiet), and check out. Yes, I’m still paying attention to the road, but mentally I can shed all of the stuff that has been banging at the walls of my mind, hear what I need to hear, and be visionary. It’s one of the reasons I love long drives.
I also find quiet in certain atmospheres with tons of people – coffee houses where people hang out (not Starbucks) and live life. I can get in and disappear into my own inner world, where none of the people around me want anything from me. Since I spend my days “being available” for others, being in a place where people have no expectation of me is an easy place for me to unplug and quiet down.
The way you describe yoga makes me want to try it. My daughter teaches yoga classes, but, like her tpm dad, she is very intense… I have to work up to her level (she’d never tell me that, but I know how she is).
Linda // November 18, 2009 at 7:52 am |
I tried Wii Yoga and fell off the balance board and broke my hand. But I did love the way I felt my muscles toning, so I keep thinking about starting again. In fact, I just might do that today … since I’m not writing.
I commented, just yesterday I think, that I used to have music playing nearly every waking minute, but somewhere along the line had become used to silence. I have come to believe I require that to focus. Though I know, when my children were small, I have been in a the middle of chaos with my mind a thousand miles away.
I love your intentions.
judy // November 18, 2009 at 8:04 am |
TPM, Love your description of a martial arts master. Maybe I’ll try that next. (And it’s especially cool because you get new belts to make you feel accomplished.) I think it’s kind of cool that your stress seems to come from outside and your quiet comes from getting a chance to just be inside yourself. Myself isn’t quiet. So even at coffee shops, where I like to write, I get distracted by interesting looking spies and lovers having spats and superheros in their plain clothes. I think we should both take your daughter’s class. We’ll be the comic relief. Then we’ll go get a glass of wine.
Linda, Your first sentence made me laugh. (Sorry!) That’s terrible! I’ve been wanting to try wii fit – the hoola hoop thing – but I haven’t done it yet. Now, not so sure! Love this: “I have been in the middle of chaos with my mind a thousand miles away.” <– That's why you're a writer. ;-)
Linda // November 18, 2009 at 8:38 am
Oh, no, it’s okay to laugh. I may be the only person in history who managed to break a hand doing yoga. But those familar with my clutziness were not particularly suprised. :-)
BOBBY // November 18, 2009 at 9:38 am |
“want to see me balance on my elbows?”
“not right now”
“from a headstand I can lower my legs and hold an ‘L’ position, want to see?”
“nah”
“watch how I pull one leg straight up while balancing on the other”
“maybe later”
Kim is allll about her power yoga classes as well as her daily “quiet” time. She has great focus and certainly uses yoga and her meditation as physical and spiritual tools. I say this even though I think her quiet time involves closing the bedroom door just to get away from me singing and dancing and sliding on the floors a la Tom Cruise (my preferred quiet time tools!).
I do like the peace that peace brings. I do like to walk the waters edge and only think about the waters edge. But I gotta say, there is no better way for me to pull my day together than playing basketball. All that yelling , pushing, running, grabbing, shooting, competitive burn…I love the “quietness” that it brings!!
BOBBY // November 18, 2009 at 9:45 am |
Oh, one little addition. Your yoga teacher with her “to find peace in your day, to love your neighbor, to be tolerant and forgiving…” has obviously never driven on the 405 freeway in L.A. —– no one could be that enlightened after such a drive! ha!
judy // November 18, 2009 at 9:49 am |
Bobby, I need Kim to help me meditate. Love the image I get of you sliding across the floor Tom Cruise style. (Like you way more than Tom Cruise.) And this is cool: “I do like to walk the waters edge and only think about the waters edge.”
Now stop that. I’m the writer. You’re the basketball player. (All that yelling , pushing, running, grabbing, shooting, competitive burn is necessary after driving the 405, baby.)
cmw // November 18, 2009 at 10:51 am |
Okay, so it wasn’t until I got to this part of your post, “She would say, in her misty sing-song yoga voice…” that I realized I was reading Yoda, not Yoga. It’s a very different post when you do that.
Oh, I re-read it and really liked your slant on it.
;)
cmw
I’m Not Programable « Tricia Sutton's Blog // November 18, 2009 at 11:57 am |
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judy // November 18, 2009 at 11:14 pm |
cmw, Hmmm… let me check… “If you would have told me a year ago that I’d be making time every morning to do Yoda, I’d have believed you because, actually, I’m sort of gullible.”
You are right. That changes EVERYTHING!
Big laugh!
Christina // November 19, 2009 at 4:46 am |
I can’t even remember what I was going to say now. I’m too busy laughing at the “do Yoda” comment exchange above! ;-D
I started a beginner’s yoga class a few months ago, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I rarely get to the point where I’m fully focused or mentally quiet for more than a second or two. But there are moments when I manage to forget that I’m in a room with other people, sticking my ass up in the air. And those moments are nice. It’s hard to escape the self. I think the tug of war between being stuck in the self and escaping is where creativity is born. Or something. ;-D
judy // November 19, 2009 at 7:43 am |
Note: Click on the “I’m not programmable” link and read Tricia’s funny, insight post (because Tricia is, in fact, funny and insightful). Plus she mentions me! Yay!
Christina, “But there are moments when I manage to forget that I’m in a room with other people, sticking my ass up in the air.” <– Laughing! It's true. And some downward dogs are better than others. ;-)
cmw // November 19, 2009 at 9:29 am |
okay, now I can’t remember what I was going to say after Christina’s comment. And yes, some downward dogs are better than others. I like yoga, I just don’t DO yoga.
cmw
BOBBY // November 19, 2009 at 9:36 am |
You know, it wasn’t until I got to the end of cmw’s post that I realized I was reading Yoda and not Yoga.
Its a completely different post now that I have gone back and re-read it!!
judy // November 19, 2009 at 11:00 am |
Bobby, Sort of disappointing now, huh? (Yoda posts rule!)
Tall Pajama Man // November 19, 2009 at 11:06 am |
Doing Yoda… sounds like some funky dance with twists and grunts and … wait… it’s starting to sound a lot like yoga…
cmw, you bring a certain wisdom to the whole conversation :-)
Estrella Azul // November 19, 2009 at 1:11 pm |
I actually started to do yoga breathing exercises, and found some great exercises for Cervical Spondylosis (why does spell check want to correct that, I know it’s correct?!) and neck pain which kill … I mean relax me.
I still can’t clear my head though… it just won’t get empty and totally relaxed no matter what I try.
Weird, but now I’m considering that is may be what keeps me going then :P
alriske // November 19, 2009 at 3:59 pm |
Writing can be a form of meditation, too, when you’re really in the zone.
judy // November 20, 2009 at 12:54 am |
Hi, Al! That is true. There is nothing better for the mind and soul than an awesome writing day.
Oh, just clicked over and looked at your new website. WOW! Unfortunately, it’s almost 1 am (grrrr!), so I’m going to pack it up, but I’ll be back tomorrow. The site is beautiful.
alriske // November 20, 2009 at 9:53 am |
Thanks, Judy! Corrected pages of the book went to the printer a few days ago. Need to get advance copies out to reviewers in preparation for the Feb. 5 launch. Exciting times!
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