Benefits of yoga - Ask a yogi

[Rucklo]

BACKGROUND
I started doing yoga four years back after having had back-problems for a months from running. After a 45min session i certainly wasn't cured, but I felt much better in the back and just knew I had to give it a fair chance.
After a few weeks i had gotten a good routine of 4-7 45min sessions/week, a routine that lasted about 6months.
Here are some of the benefits i had, which all started to show and feel quite fast, just after a month or so:

BENEFITS
- Physical benefits were quick to show. A lot of pain in various joints had more or less vanished (grew up skateboarding, snowboarding and various martial arts). Of course I ended up feeling more balanced in my body and stronger overall as well as more flexible.

- I was doing my final thesis at the studio I now work, and apart from the thesis was doing sound design for a project there on my spare time. I.e. I was sitting down ALOT. I wouldn't have been able to endure that much time sitting down hadn't it been for the yoga sessions

- One thing I didn't expect is perhaps one of the best benefits. Mental focus grew quite a lot, and I was able to maintain focus and a clear head for much longer durations than before I started with yoga.

- Further down the road I've had use for yoga to help calm me the fuck down when I've had breakups or other stressful periods in my life. Yoga practice have helped me dampen anxeity a great deal.

SOME MOAR STUFF LOL
Let's say you spend 4-5h/week doing yoga. I can assure you that sleeping that time is nowhere near as efficient as yoga. I do other sports as well, a lot of running as of lately (just injured my knee tho), running and yoga is a really good combo, especially the slow paced deep-stretching yoga form known as Yin-yoga.
I'm currently undergoing an instructors-course for 200h - basically I realized I was trying to push yoga on to everyone I talked to about sports and mental focus/control anyway, so it was just a natural step.

ASK AWAY!
So, if you're curious about yoga, drop your questions here and I (or another yogi (not yogi bear)) will answer! ^___^

[TomFulp]

I don't want to let this month end without doing at least one yoga class. I still do some of the stretches on a regular basis but I really need to get serious about it again. It's weird how when you're serious about something at one point, you kinda feel like it's still part of your lifestyle... Like I just sorta go on my day as if I am still enjoying the benefits of yoga, when I'm not actually.

[DoctorStrongbad]

Do you really need to swipe pick nick baskets? What is it like living in the forest? Is Boo Boo really that needy?

[Rucklo]

At 1/12/15 05:34 PM, TomFulp wrote: I don't want to let this month end without doing at least one yoga class. I still do some of the stretches on a regular basis but I really need to get serious about it again. It's weird how when you're serious about something at one point, you kinda feel like it's still part of your lifestyle... Like I just sorta go on my day as if I am still enjoying the benefits of yoga, when I'm not actually.

Sun salutation (link for you who never seen it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nJenUZxaUqU )is a realy good timesaver, always good to just get the blood flowing and the complexity of the whole series gives a large part of the body a kickstart in the morning.
When it comes to deeper yoga studies, the physical part is just one part. Yoga philosophy is quite interesting, dating more an 5000 years back. There might be some hippie-stuff in there, but it doesn't conflict with religion or other beliefs, it's more based on "good living". The practical exploration of the body over the last few hundreds/thousand years have been made in to a model of what's called different "chakra"-centers on the body, with energy flowing between them. Now, there's no scientific support for this, but just trying techniques out at work with the different chakras and their definition is quite interesting and frankly very accurate. That's what differs yoga from most philosophies, there's a heavy benefit from the practice, and yes, you can believe whatever you want in terms of god, satan, flying spaghetti-monster etc.

I agree though, even if one have been inactive a while it still kinda feels like it's lingering. Get back to it, man! :)

At 1/12/15 05:36 PM, Xenomit wrote: I invent my own yoga moves

Most of them involve being on one leg or put a lot of emphasis on balance

Cool stuff! Have you ever tried a class though? If not, you should check it out for sure, if you've started by yourself and enjoy it, you're sure to enjoy and easily get in to classes as well. There's a lot of good teachers out there! :)

At 1/12/15 05:37 PM, Zachary wrote: But can you suck your own dick?

I can suck my own dick and anyone elses dick without even bending my back. Wait wat

[Grub-Xer0]

I've been wanting to get into yoga ever since I saw a huge change with a veteran who used to base jump . I threw out my back in 2006, and I have pain every day. My workload consists of heavy lifting daily, and it's destroying my body.

What do you recommend to someone who has no idea of where to begin?

[Sequenced]

At 1/12/15 05:34 PM, TomFulp wrote: I don't want to let this month end without doing at least one yoga class.

change your name to TomYogiFulp

you wont regret it

[Rucklo]

At 1/12/15 05:56 PM, Grub-Xer0 wrote: I've been wanting to get into yoga ever since I saw a huge change with a veteran who used to base jump . I threw out my back in 2006, and I have pain every day. My workload consists of heavy lifting daily, and it's destroying my body.

What do you recommend to someone who has no idea of where to begin?

Depending on where you live and how many studios you have around, there's usually a lot of beginners-classes where you will see people of all ages and shapes. Easy does it, and make sure to inform the instructor in the beginning of the session(s) of your condition. He/she will hopefully be able to provide alternative poses if you feel pain in any position.

Remember that it's OK to have a little bit of a "rough" time, some poses are quite craving. If it's a good beginners class you sholdn't have to worry, but it's important to understand that no one can tell you if you're in pain other than yourself. This is also a big part of yoga, to be able to get in to yourself in a bubble and focus on breathing, stretching and flexing at the dame time as you're trying to feel as much as possible of what's really going on in the body.

Don't stress it (well, obviously:), you'll learn one thing at a time. And you can always rest in childs-pose if things gets heavy.

There are plenty of poses and classes that likely will help you with your back-problem, most yoga sessions will cover a large portion of your body. Exactly what the problem is could be anything though, but it's common that the abdomen strength isn't up to par, or the hip - rather often it's a combination of many things, especially if you have old injuries and such (that's my problem, which makes it hard to pin-point the problem(s)).

If you want you can just start out with some beginners-class on youtube as well, that will help you get prepared for actual classes and likely lessen the beginners-confusion. Just watching some clips will give you an idea of what it's about too, of course.

I'd recommend you looking for a Hatha-yoga beginners class first, which is kind of the father of all physical yoga. If that works, you could later on check out Jivamukti, some Vinyasa classes which bo are a bit more on the dunamic side. Sometimes yoga can be called a little whatever as well, "power" (yang) yoga could be one name, or perhaps "dynamic" yoga. If you see an odd name of a class just check with the instructor/studio to get an idea of what it's about.

Yin-yoga and restorqtive yoga is two very slow and quiet forms of yoga i'd recommend you check out as well, could potentially work wonders with your back, but I'd aim to build up some basic strength and flexibility through Hatha-yoga (or similar) first! :)
Just remember to give it an honest chance, say 3-4 times/week for at least two weeks, preferably more.

Childs-pose:

[Rucklo]

At 1/12/15 06:34 PM, X-Gary-Gigax-X wrote: You've been a Yogi? No wonder you haven't been here in an age

I've been doing yoga for four years now, but my job is mainly what have left me with little to no time to spare on NG. It's better now after the launch of BF4 last year, but still quite hectic. We're lucky enough to get two yoga-sessions/week at work, which is really good if you have a stressful job such as this. That's a good tip btw, to learn some breathing techniques that you can do during lunch over say 10-20min or so. I've been using a mindfulness-app called Headspace, which have helped me a lot!

[VJF]

At 1/12/15 05:45 PM, DoctorStrongbad wrote: Do you really need to swipe pick nick baskets? What is it like living in the forest? Is Boo Boo really that needy?

I expected a lot more comments like this one in this thread. Has this generation already forgotten the cartoon heroes of yesteryear?

[TomFulp]

I made you my motivation to get out to a yoga class this morning! I definitely want to get back to doing that at least once a week. After the kids came along I basically spent 5 years running and doing prison exercises around the house. In recent months I've finally been going to the gym and lifting weights, it's giving me lots of aches though so yoga will really help that.

[Piper]

I hear that doing stuff like yoga can increase one's natural GABA levels. I really ought to take up doing yoga. I mean, I own a fricken' yoga mat and I only use it for sit ups.

[TomFulp]

At 1/13/15 03:05 PM, Piper wrote: I hear that doing stuff like yoga can increase one's natural GABA levels. I really ought to take up doing yoga. I mean, I own a fricken' yoga mat and I only use it for sit ups.

It's definitely good for your mind, whatever it's doing!

[Necroionutwiz]

At 1/12/15 05:37 PM, Zachary wrote: But can you suck your own dick?

i belive you can if you take out one of your ribs >.o

[Rucklo]

At 1/13/15 10:06 AM, TomFulp wrote: I made you my motivation to get out to a yoga class this morning! I definitely want to get back to doing that at least once a week. After the kids came along I basically spent 5 years running and doing prison exercises around the house. In recent months I've finally been going to the gym and lifting weights, it's giving me lots of aches though so yoga will really help that.

Glad to hear you got out for some stretch and flex! :)
I run a whole lot myself, well not right now due to an injured knee, nevertheless yoga is amazing in combination with running. Especially yin-yoga, sometimes usually after longer running sessions, I do yin-yoga for an hour or so, that relly does wonders for the body. Time consuming, sure, but even a lot of yoga poses can be simplified and just performed on te spot, just don't take out the ful range of motion, be sure to focus on the breath and ujjayi-breathing if that's familiar to you and voila, that's ten min of do-good well spent time! :)
Also, you could look up some child-yoga classes, where you can yoga together with your kids.

At 1/13/15 05:18 PM, TomFulp wrote:

At 1/13/15 03:05 PM, Piper wrote: I hear that doing stuff like yoga can increase one's natural GABA levels. I really ought to take up doing yoga. I mean, I own a fricken' yoga mat and I only use it for sit ups.

It's definitely good for your mind, whatever it's doing!

Definitely!
I started doing mindfulness about 6 months ago, and after a15-20 min session with proper breathing (time depends on how I feel for the day), i get out about the same mind-soothing and focusing benefits from a full yoga session. More time efficient, but of course lacking the physical benefits. I do believe it's an advantage if you know your body well though, as the breathing likely becomes easier if you're a bit more in contact with your body.

I don't know exactly what it's doing on a scientific and biological level, but in my experience, the benefits I reap comes from being able to live more in the present moment. That in turn helps me relax more and not worry as much about the future, nor dwell in the past. This gives me a better focus which in return helps me do a better job at work, so I don't have to work overtime or worry about work at home. Ghat then gives me time to spend on hobbies and friends/families and not being strssed out doing so because "i have that big recording session to worry about next week".

It may sound a bit hippie-ish, but just think about how much time and energy we waste thinking about the past and the future. I'm very guilty of that myself, at least. It's not about not thinking, it's rather a way to focus on what's more directly in front of you, so you can spend energy and time on things that are more likely to have a direct impact in your life. By doing better choises and f.ex. become more efficient at work/school you will likely be able to spend more time with your hobbies, friends and families or whatever you really enjoy spending time doing and that gets you relaxed. And above that you will of course potentially be more successful at work/school, which may help increasing your self-esteem.
Basically I'm talking about a positive spiral upwards.

It's not just "that simple" of course, but a very efficient way of learning to focus better. It's not really that hard on e uou get started though. Getting a good routine and perhaps just getting started is probably the more difficult pars of it.
But once you get a bit better focus and clarity, you can utilize this throuhgout the day/week on whatever, which may even help you to become more efficient, focused and clear in your head.
It takes a bit of dedication in the beginning, you may need to work with yourself a bit and also find a class that suits your physical and mental needs, but once you get past the first barrier there's no going back! :)

Do not forget to rest well, however. Sleeping is extremely important for the body and mind to fully recover and improve. A traditional yoga session makes a point pf this by ending the session in "Savasana", "Dead mans pose" which is performed lying on your back, breathing normally and simply maxing out relaxing! Quite often people fall asleep. Even though falling asleep is not the purpose of the pose, no power-nap i've had beats the mini-power naps I've unvoulentarily gotten from falling asleep in this pose. :)