Do you want to start yoga, but you keep procrastinating? There MAY be fears, generalizations and false expectations holding you back. Characteristics like your age, athletic ability, size, gender, race, etc., are irrelevant. In actuality, the only requirement for practicing yoga is the willingness to show up.
Yoga is simply defined as a union. We unite our postures with our breath and our practice with our lives. Yoga is inclusive, meaning that all are welcome no matter what religion or walk of life you come from. In fact, the increased focus you may develop can deepen your faith & beliefs.
Yoga is a lifelong practice. It may take years to master certain poses and reach the level of flexibility that we see many yoga teachers use to promote their services on social media. The beauty is however, that you do not have to be flexible to start. It is inevitable that your strength and flexibility will increase with regular practice.
“I can’t touch my toes, so I can’t do yoga”?
This excuse is like saying, “I can’t take guitar lessons, because I don’t know how to play the guitar.” It seems obvious that this is exactly why you need to take lessons.
Plus, yoga is the ONE sport that is not competitive. We often close our eyes during yoga class to feel the internal sensations, instead of focusing on external appearance. Yoga studios typically do not have mirrors, as the focus is on the inner experience & awareness.
Sometimes our joints lack flexibility. Some days our balancing is wobbly. And sometimes our body is moving effortlessly. On the mat you learn to just Do You, accept yourself and love yourself, just as you are. We cultivate many other intangible benefits like calming the mind, learning how to relax, and growing more patient with ourselves, too.
When you don’t know the poses & sequences, you may feel lost. This is normal for beginners. Give yourself the grace to learn at your pace. You’ll be surprised at how fast you pick things up, but no rush to perfection!
Everybody is different. We all have our own experiences, traumas, injuries, and challenges. It would be illogical to assume we would all be on the same page.
A lot of times, soreness and tightness happen because parts of our body are being overused while others are being underused. The physical practice of yoga can help strengthen underused muscles and relieve tension from the overused, tight areas.
Then there is the feeling of shame; assumptions that people are looking at you. The truth is no one is criticizing you as much as you may critique yourself. We can turn comparison to self-compassion.
When you’re constantly feeling tired, a likely cause is a lack of oxygen. How many breaths a day are you conscious of? This disconnection from breath can mean less oxygen than necessary to feel alert. In yoga, we connect with our breath throughout the practice. This expands the number of conscious breaths we take, and thus our energy levels.
Heran’s Yoga classes are geared towards relaxation & healing, making it accessible to every-BODY, including pregnant women, children and elders. Also higher intensity classes are available. You are never too old, too stiff, too big, too small, too inexperienced, or too busy to practice for 5 or 10 minutes a day.
Writer: Heran Tadesse
Email: HeranTadesse@gmail.com
Text: +251-9 29 11 21 70
Social media: Heran’s Yoga
