Yoga Message Board

Thanks for the invitation!
Yoga citta vritti nirodha :-)

Thanks for joining!

:-D

I was wondering how everyone was introduced to yoga. I grew up in a small, very conservative, rural town in Ohio where yoga was looked at rather warily.

I found Runner's World Yoga Book at a book sale. And that was my introduction.

Later, when I was an undergraduate, I found a teacher that I absolutely adored. Unfortunately, she moved. But I've been in love with yoga ever since.

Runner's World Yoga Book was actually my first yoga text, too. I used to run cross-country in school and wanted to do something that would keep me limber for dance, my other physical activity. But I really got into yoga after a car accident in early college. Aside from expensive but lovely massages, yoga has been the only thing that prevents my back from tweaking.

I had a great teacher in Tucson. But I've recently relocated to San Antonio and haven't found anybody yet. I can't seem to stay motivated for a home practice without regular meetings with a good teacher.

I've actually had back problems myself. Somehow, and we still haven't figured when or how it happened, I ruptured a disc and damaged several others in my lower back.

Sophomore year of high school I had surgery and have had very little problem since then. I do find that yoga really helps, though!

I started to do yoga when I was 14. I found it really relaxing in the middle of terrible stress about school.

I'm just starting out. :)

My first intro to yoga was Raquel: The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program, which I found at a garage sale when I was 14. I don't know how good it actually was, as it's been long ago misplaced, but it did spark my interests. My god, what I'd give to have the natural strength and flexibility of those days back.

Believe it or not, we had a Yoga Club in high school, which I was involved in. Every Wednesday at lunch time a handful of students gathered in the basement in our bare feet and practiced with a teacher. It was hard to do some of the poses in jeans, and I sometimes got the giggles with my friends, but I usually left feeling calm and peaceful. So I always went back. Since then, I've taken classes on and off, but am just now starting to practice more seriously.

I don't own any yoga books, but I do have some DVDs and I use the internet and magazines for reference.

I started attending a hatha yoga class 5 years ago and got hooked. I go to the weekly class and then practice at home once a week. I wish I could be more regular. Daily practice would be best, I think. I've tried a couple of hot yoga classes (Bikram) and really like that, too. I realized a dream recently--to practice yoga outdoors. It was amazing.

>8 Anlina: Raquel is straight Bikram; so straight that she lost a patent suit to Bikram. Too bad, because unlike Bikram, Raquel understood media -- a better book and better tape.

Is anyone interested in revitalizing this group?

I'm still around, although I've obviously not been very active. Feel free to revitalize away!

I am start yoga in my college days and i feel very relaxed after my college and work busy schedule on doing yoga. So yoga and meditation is a great and effective refreshing activity for me. Free meditation courses

I am reading an interesting book called 21st Century Yoga: Culture, Politics, and Practice. It is a series of essays by different yoga professionals about the westernization and commercialization of yoga, whether the ancient precepts of yoga fit with today's western values etc. I am enjoying it very much.

k4k

Started yoga in college. No idea what school of yoga it was, but found it hugely beneficial on the physical level. I've been practicing off and on since college (for about three years now) and started yoga teacher training late last year (I'll probably be graduating in the next month or so).

>18 DeusExLibrus: Just wondering: what type of yoga are you training for now and how did you select it?

For the last 4 months I have been taking a class in mindfulness yoga many years after a few weeks of beginner's yoga, so I am quite a novice. I really enjoy it. We seem to hold poses for a long time though! Today I found it particularly difficult to relax into the poses. What I find interesting is that I often can't remember whether I am inhaling or exhaling. I guess that means I need a lot more practice.

k4k

>19 krazy4katz: Because of some really annoying copyright silliness, I can't use its actual name and just have to refer to it as "Yoga in the lineage of Krishnamacharya" who, incidentally, is basically (of course, a certain Brazilian air force vet probably helped things along quite a bit as well) responsible for what we now know as yoga existing at all, let alone being popular in the west, largely because he taught BKS Iyengar. Look up Viniyoga and Gary Kraftsow at some point.

OK, I see. I am not very well acquainted with all the different styles. I have been taking mindfulness yoga and will be going to a talk by Frank Jude Boccio next week.

I was thinking of reading Buddha's Brain. I see you recommended it?

It really is a great book. Its from a buddhist perspective, but Buddhism and Yoga do have certain intersections. Its been a year or more since I've read it, so I can't really give you anything specific. other than to say its worth the cover price (or borrowing, if you can find it at a library).

Now, 10 months later, I am reading Buddha's Brain and enjoying it. Thanks for the recommendation!