MY LIFE THROUGH BOOKS 1: YOGA
NANO UPDATE: I'm at 2,248 words, I hope to reach 4,000 words by tonight!
Hi everyone welcome to my first post of :
MY Life Through Books
I won't have much time to read or review this month so I wanted to do some reviews of books I've already read that give you an insight to my personal life.
Yoga. I never knew much about it growing up in Connecticut. I lived in New Haven, home to Yale college and though Yoga and Meditation classes were available I'll admit I thought it was a little weird :).
Flash forward 12+ years and I'm living in California with my boyfriend. I had recently been diagnosed with tendinitis and spent two years off work dealing with a disability that strained my health and my relationship. The time off helped though because I started to heal rapidly and was even enrolled in school ad working out at the gym. That is where I took my first Yoga class. It was a variation of Bikram's Yoga which was traditionally done in 90 degree heat! Thank goodness this one wasn't! That very first class I felt a sense of relaxation and well being I never had before during a physical exercise. In Bikram's yoga you repeat a lot of the same moves over and over, thus allowing the mind and body to relax.
My life has changed in recent years but yoga has become a constant in my life. My sign on name for Twitter is @YogiKai , when the wonderful Parajunkee remodeled my blog I had her infuse a little of the yoga look in my Avatar. A Yogi is a person who practices Yoga for a female it's yogini. Yoga has become a huge part of who I am as a person, even when I'm not on the mat I'm practicing yoga. It changes the way I perceive the world, allows for all my human foibles and really puts me in touch with something bigger than my self spiritually.
Before I get to the review I wan to speak a little about the meaning behind Yoga. It saddened me to learn that many people think of Yoga as a Cult. With the advent of great studios like YOGA WORKS which I belong to, people are becoming more educated about yoga and it's benefits. There are also a lot of DVDs and books about Christian Yoga. If that helps people who are Christan embrace yoga I'm glad, but my concern is that people in general will think of Yoga as a whole as unchristian, which in my opinion it isn't. Yoga was originally developed as a tool to prepare the body to sit for long times in meditation and thus increase your connection with the Divine, God, or any deity you embrace. You can choose to follow the Eight Branches of Yoga as a spiritual path but that is a personal decision. The other limbs of yoga cover such topics as : conduct towards others, conduct towards oneself, breath control for mental discipline , Asanas or yoga poses for body discipline to name just a few . I really recommend women interested in yoga get Yoga a gem for women by Geeta S. Iyengar, she is the daughter of a Yoga Master. I also recommend YOGA JOURNAL a great resource for those interested in Yoga, I hope you all will one day try a class at a local studio. Gentle or Restorative classes are a great place to start .
I won't have much time to read or review this month so I wanted to do some reviews of books I've already read that give you an insight to my personal life.
Yoga. I never knew much about it growing up in Connecticut. I lived in New Haven, home to Yale college and though Yoga and Meditation classes were available I'll admit I thought it was a little weird :).
Flash forward 12+ years and I'm living in California with my boyfriend. I had recently been diagnosed with tendinitis and spent two years off work dealing with a disability that strained my health and my relationship. The time off helped though because I started to heal rapidly and was even enrolled in school ad working out at the gym. That is where I took my first Yoga class. It was a variation of Bikram's Yoga which was traditionally done in 90 degree heat! Thank goodness this one wasn't! That very first class I felt a sense of relaxation and well being I never had before during a physical exercise. In Bikram's yoga you repeat a lot of the same moves over and over, thus allowing the mind and body to relax.
My life has changed in recent years but yoga has become a constant in my life. My sign on name for Twitter is @YogiKai , when the wonderful Parajunkee remodeled my blog I had her infuse a little of the yoga look in my Avatar. A Yogi is a person who practices Yoga for a female it's yogini. Yoga has become a huge part of who I am as a person, even when I'm not on the mat I'm practicing yoga. It changes the way I perceive the world, allows for all my human foibles and really puts me in touch with something bigger than my self spiritually.
Before I get to the review I wan to speak a little about the meaning behind Yoga. It saddened me to learn that many people think of Yoga as a Cult. With the advent of great studios like YOGA WORKS which I belong to, people are becoming more educated about yoga and it's benefits. There are also a lot of DVDs and books about Christian Yoga. If that helps people who are Christan embrace yoga I'm glad, but my concern is that people in general will think of Yoga as a whole as unchristian, which in my opinion it isn't. Yoga was originally developed as a tool to prepare the body to sit for long times in meditation and thus increase your connection with the Divine, God, or any deity you embrace. You can choose to follow the Eight Branches of Yoga as a spiritual path but that is a personal decision. The other limbs of yoga cover such topics as : conduct towards others, conduct towards oneself, breath control for mental discipline , Asanas or yoga poses for body discipline to name just a few . I really recommend women interested in yoga get Yoga a gem for women by Geeta S. Iyengar, she is the daughter of a Yoga Master. I also recommend YOGA JOURNAL a great resource for those interested in Yoga, I hope you all will one day try a class at a local studio. Gentle or Restorative classes are a great place to start .
Comments
i love bikram yoga too! i've been doing it for years and find the muscle memory amazing when i step away from it and get back into it. it's quite a workout indeed.
I don't know much about Yoga. I have a beginners dvd but have never made it past the warm up exercises. The book sounds really great though, and perfect for kids! Anyway, thanks again.