Yoga Practice and course experience

Growing up, Yoga was always a passive part of my life. It started with school when we had a weekly Yoga session for 30-45 minutes. Back then, that half hour was a good excuse for me to get away from books and doing Asanas hardly mattered. In College, our College Head hosted a 3 day Yoga camp every year with focus not only on Asanas but also the other limbs of Yoga. Again, at that age it seemed like a good excuse to spend time with friends outside our classrooms. In my working days I would have some glimpses of Yoga here and there through the year. 

The biggest visible impact for me came from Yoga last year after I quit my job. The stress on my mind started showing on my body with multiple health issues hitting me one after the other. This is when I started practicing the basic Surya Namaskar at home everyday and the continuous practice over a few months made some of my health issues subside to a large extend. But over the last 8 months my Yoga was limited to Surya Namaskar and I wanted to change this. Knowing myself, I found it difficult to stick to a regular practice and the idea of attending the course occured to me. And writing this at the end of 3 weeks of the course I feel is the best decision I took for the start of this year. Although I was mentally prepared for this rigorous course, my body was hardly ready for it. As Master Paalu says: ‘it takes a few moments to change your mind, but the body takes its time’ and I am giving my body that time. Doing this course has been a good realisation of how much my body and mind is capable of pushing itself. Also, in such a short period I have seen a significant positive change in simple habits I have in my personal life. One should remember that Yoga is not just the Asanas, learning more about the other aspects of Yoga has been a very insightful experience. Pranayama has helped my erratic throat problem subside after months. My mind is calmer, I sleep better and wake up more cheerful!

Yoga is something that is now permanently here to stay in my life. The topics of Ayurveda and Chakras have been most intriguing, it has put a lot of background information to practices I have experienced growing up in my life without knowing their meaning and I look forward to studying more about this after the course. As for the Asanas – in the coming months, I hope to perfect my Chaturanga (the perfect jump and seamless movement into the Urdhva Mukha Svanasana) and build enough arms strength to get into Sirasana fearlessly. 

Aman (200 Hr – January 2017)