5 good reasons to take up yoga (like doing good for your body and head!)
For many, getting into sport rhymes with “tough stuff”. Because yes, when it’s not a habit already, the gym is scary and it looks off-putting as a bonus. Well, where to begin? A good solution, for girls as for boys (and I emphasize this): yoga.
Contrary to popular belief, yoga is not about sleeping on the floor listening to your breath. Or you ran into some really bad lessons.
So what is it? Wiki tells us “The Western practice of haṭha yoga is a search for the unity of all the physical and psychic modalities that make up the human being” And it doesn’t sound like that, but it means “1 hour from time to time or you will struggle and feel all the muscles in your body, while you had forgotten the existence of half of them”.
And yes, it’s sport .
So here are 5 good reasons to start yoga next week
(time to find a class with a nice instructor, what.)
1. You just think about yourself for 1 hour, and it feels good.
We don’t have the opportunity every day to just refocus on ourselves. Because the job, because the classes, because the lifestyle we lead leaves little room for absolute relaxation. A yoga class is an opportunity for 1 hour to leave your problems at the door, and listen to yourself breathe. Because yes, we start by listening to ourselves breathe, and that’s not something we do often casually.
2. We relearn how to stand up straight and breathe properly.
We spend our days, more and more, curled up on our computers, and me the first. The arched back, the twisted wrists, the bowed head. All it takes to get used to poor posture, which is harmful over time and leads to more serious problems with age. Also, we have lost the habit of breathing “completely”, of using 100% of our breathing capacity, and suddenly, the body gets used to living with less oxygen with each breath, which is of course. , not a good thing. Relearn how to hold on well, and to breathe correctly, it feels really good. (And as an added bonus, because you’re getting more oxygen than usual, you’re perched slightly. And that helps clear your mind, really.)
3. We strengthen our muscles and we become more flexible.
This is the crux. Ok, this is not a high calorie consuming activity, because the movements are slow and it’s more toning than weight training. But it’s a great way to tighten up a tummy a bit soft, a bit low buttock, a bit lazy arms. As you go, you become more resistant, more flexible, the movements hurt less and become more precise. You really feel like you’re making progress, and you can increase the difficulty. (which ranges from “calm, I’m at my ease” to “help I no longer feel my body”. True story.)
4. No session is like the last, so you never get bored.
The series of movements are very numerous and varied, and change with each class. Some are great classics, others are much more surprising, and relearning to do the pear tree (yes yes) is always a challenge. (Me neither, that had happened to me since college PSE.)
5. We leave there with empty heads. Completely empty.
Because the hyper-oxygenation, coupled with the effort, coupled with the relaxation session at the end … it sets you up for a whole day. Forget the idea of doing a weight session afterwards, if the yoga class was good you won’t be able to. Now is the time to come home and sit down with some tea or some breakfast, and enjoy a bit. Because we REALLY feel good.
And all of this is relatively new to me. I have been attending the Beginner-Intermediate classes at SohoGym in London since September and it’s a real treat. And I get up, with pleasure, every Saturday morning to go to the 9:30 am session, without regret for my sleep in. That’s to say, it’s nice.
