Yoga: Soothing Balm for What Ails You

I found out on New Year's Day that I passed a yoga test.

This is sort of amusing to me.  There are yoga contests now--it's been proposed to even add yoga events to the Olympics.  Yoga is not about tests.

This summer I took a yoga teacher training course through YogaWorks.  It kept me occupied through the summer--four hours each Saturday and Sunday and a few hours twice a week.  I learned a bit of anatomy, pranayama (breathing), philosophy, and asana (poses and alignment).  It improved my yoga practice, but most importantly it gave me an opportunity to met seventeen individuals who were all interested in yoga.

Last year, at this time, I'd taken a yoga retreat for a weekend.  It was the first real trip I'd taken since I separated from my ex back in 1999.  Both trips were to Ojai.  I'd always wanted to be able to do yoga, supervised, for a longer duration than the usual ninety-minute classes.  It was a fun trip--but the teacher training was even more fantastic.  I spent such an enormous time working on my practice that my teachers noticed improvement--and I met new friends, (which I find difficult sometimes).

So why do I bring up yoga on this blog?  Well, yoga makes you feel good.  I wish I'd started practicing when I was younger.  I think, because the practice makes your body feel so good, powerful, and healthy that it's a wonderful thing to become involved with, especially if there is stress in your life.  Doing yoga, I find it impossible to think of anything else except what I'm doing.  It's a vacation from any worries (and really worrying doesn't solve anything, it just makes one feel bad.)  It helps one clear one's mind--the entire purpose of the "exercise" or movements tied to breath is to be able to sit and meditate.  

I did many foolish things when I divorced, but the thing I have no regrets about--the thing I've done that has been wise--was to make a commitment to be good to myself and to work on being "mindful" or more thoughtful about my actions so that I hopefully won't get into a relationship that ends badly (as my marriage did).  I think doing yoga is a wonderful treat that has helped me through the rough spots.

Yoga is taught at YMCA's, many gyms, schools and lots of yoga stuidos.  My favorite is YogaWorks (they have studios in Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County and even New York!  They also do teacher trainings all over the world!) and Black Dog Yoga in Sherman Oaks.  I highly recommend yoga for your body, mind and soul.  Click on the link for Accidental Yogist for a map of Los Angeles yoga studios.