I consider myself to be an active person. I lift weights at least twice per week, walk a minimum of 40 minutes each day, go for a 3-5 mile hike once a week, and also take bike rides with my kids once or twice a week. It’s not exactly like a sit on the couch all day and night. I’ve taken a couple yoga classes at my gym on occasion, to stretch out muscles that were sore from lifting, and in each case I left feeling like it didn’t move fast enough for me, or like I “didn’t do anything”.

That all ended last week. I took advantage of one of those promotional coupons to try five yoga classes from a real yoga studio. My first class totally kicked my ass. I was almost embarrassed! For the first time, I actually felt the effects of Yoga both during the class and after.

Now, I’ll admit, I know very little about the different types of yoga that are out there; that’s one of the main reasons I purchased the coupon. I wanted to understand the differences, and see if there was one out there that I really enjoyed. Since I am hardly an expert in this, I’m going to avoid getting into the specifics of different types of yoga, and instead focus on the benefits of yoga in general.

• Improved flexibility. Duh! This one is obvious. My class last week had me nice and twisted up like a pretzel. While I wouldn’t say it was pleasant at the time, it did temporarily alleviate some back pain that I’ve been having.
• Stress relief and weight loss. These two benefits are tied together. Yoga reportedly lowers the levels of cortisol in your body, which is due in part to the stress reliving effects of the quiet, serine atmosphere of the practice. In lowering your cortisol, you also lower your body’s desire to hold onto and store fat. Kind of a cool double-whammy.
• Improved circulation in the body. As a result of this benefit, you can also add an overall improved cardiovascular system to this list. Part of the way it does this is through increasing the range of movement throughout your body, but also through teaching better (and deeper) breathing techniques.
• Better posture. That back trouble I have? Its from sitting at a desk for too many years, and likely, horrible posture. Yoga strengthens your core muscles, which are directly related to how you sit and move. Strengthen your core, and you’ll inevitably improve you sitting technique because you have better strength to hold yourself up properly.
• Spiritual and Emotional Peace. This is the one I’m currently trying to get acquainted with. During yoga, you are- in a way- forced to remain in the present. (If you don’t, your pretzeled body will end up tangled on the floor!). The practice of remaining in the present, is the most important step in finding that inner peace that we all look for in our daily lives.  In addition, yoga studios incorporate into their practice a spiritual component, where you set your intention before practice and remind you to be thoughtful about that intention throughout the class. Often times mediation is also added to the end of the class. The active participation towards spiritual peace helps to keep your mind focused on learning to let go of things and focus on the present.

I still have four more yoga classes to do at this studio… I’m waiting to get up enough stamina and mental preparedness before subjecting myself to another ass-kicking. I have to say, I really like it. The yoga I have experiences at a gym, lacked the peaceful, mindful, spiritual component that I have since found at a legitimate studio. Even if I don’t stick with Yoga on a regular basis, I don’t think I can go back to my gym for it… now I know what I’m missing!

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