Mind Your Body TV Episode 23 with Geo Moskios.
I hesitantly tried a popular Saturday morning Hatha yoga, or basic foundation class at the YMCA. I was initially perplexed with the combination of asanas, those poses or postures, paired with regulated breathing and meditation. “This doesn’t move fast enough,” I thought. But I’d come to practice yoga and I was going to learn.
Not only did we sit still (!) and breathe, slowly and deeply, for a few minutes at first, but the lights were dimmed, the candles lit, the music turned on, and there I was, sitting cross-legged on the floor in that well-known Lotus pose. I intrepidly began to learn Downward-Facing Dog, a super stretch of the whole body. Then came Cobra for toning my baby boomer arms, and Forward Fold and Pyramid for more flexion and stretch. “Hey, this isn’t so hard…”
Well, yes, it is, for I find the Vinyasa or yoga flow classes incredibly challenging and tough. As we practice yoga, we segue from one pose to another, raising heart rate and therefore circulation, and burning plenty of calories. We get warm and red-faced and sometimes “we” can’t do the poses as well as “we’d” like.
Balancing poses are their own yoga animal, great for boomers who practice yoga. Balancing Tree is easy enough for me, but Half Moon and Dancer will humble the strongest of athletes who haven’t done this before, for they are difficult. They are a cinch for one of my instructors so lithe and flexible she resembles a human pretzel. Am I envious? You bet.
Practice yoga at your own pace
Each of our bodies is so different. The nice thing about yoga is that each person can do as little or as much as desired—no two people do anything the same way, especially when it comes to movement or athletics. I also find the yoga environment incredibly non-competitive, which is so refreshing, versus some group activities which shall go unnamed.
Yoga has helped my cervical spine—my neck “pinches” most of the time due to too many horse falls and too much computer. I often want someone to pull my head “up to the sky” and a yoga session does that, relieving pressure. It also tones my arms: I have a thing about fat hanging over the bra line. Yoga firms my whole body and I’m a believer now. I’ve even learned to sit for a few minutes, able to clear my mind for a nanosecond of those fleeting, troubling thoughts and incessant “What ifs.” Ten seconds is my goal. Wish me luck.
I know Geo Moskios will inspire you in this video. Let me know how you go, girl, when you practice yoga.
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(Photo courtesy © Galina Barskaya | Dreamstime Stock Photos)