10/2 Yoga Blog (Bikram Yoga)

         I really liked this Bikram Yoga practice with Diane Polli. I've never done Bikram Yoga before and this was more intense that I would've thought. I liked that the beginning of the practice was building a lot of heat and then slowly we began to relax. I also really liked that we took rests in between postures because I felt like I had more energy to complete each sequence. This was more of a fast paced yoga practice compared to what I'm normally used to but after I felt really energized. 

    I think that the views of yoga as exercise depend on the practitioner and the culture. For instance, I feel like mainly in the the Western World yoga is largely viewed as a form of exercise. While there are some exceptions to that and some classes in the West do incorporate more spiritual elements, most mainstream classes are focused on the physical asanas. I think in the East there's more of an emphasis on the unity to a higher power through yoga. I also think most practitioners in the West start their yoga journey through asana practice and then explore the more spiritual aspect of yoga while in the East it seems like they happen simultaneously. 

    I think yoga empowers me because of the connection to the breath. While other exercises like running can be empowering, I feel like it's more intense and I do it as a sort of physical release while I look to yoga to be a mental release as well as physical. I think the emphasis on the breath helps to go further than more exercises to help to truly connect back to the body and the mind.