Final Journal Reflection

 Final Yoga Journal Reflection

    This semester marks the semester that I practiced yoga the most. While I have been doing yoga for about six years, I only really used it for a specific purpose. For example, I would do a flow for stress when I was feeling anxious. When I felt like my muscles were getting tight I would do a flexibility practice. Previously, I never did yoga for any other reason but a physical exercise and a way for me to relax into my body. This semester, I've taken yoga more seriously and now the physical asanas are one of the many aspect of yoga that I focus on. Instead of it just being a physical practice, in the last few months I have cultivated it into my life on and off the mat. 

    Out of all the practices that we participated in as a class, my favorites were Iyengar Yoga and Sivananda Yoga. I really liked Iyengar Yoga because it is highly customizable and can be tailored to your own personal progress. While I think Iyengar is excellent at marketing by making the practice accessible to everyone and every type of body, I also think that there is an element of inclusivity. While I understand the view that yoga is a religious and sacred practice, I personally believe that yoga in the Western world is considered more of a widely available activity. I think that yoga should be available to everyone because different people can benefit from different aspects of the practice. I also enjoyed the Sivananda class because of the way it was structured. I never started a class in savasana but I feel like it set the right intention for the rest of the session. I also really liked that, even though there are set postures, the student is still able to customize their practice. For instance, if a student is not ready to do headstand yet, they can practice dolphin pose until they feel more comfortable. Sivananda is almost like if Ashtanga and Iyengar Yoga had a baby in the sense that there is a set type of postures that the student practices but they can still modify it to their progress.  

    Practices I did not enjoy as much were Ashtanga and Bikram Yoga. While I did like aspects of both, they are not practices I would pursue on my own. Personally, Ashtanga focuses too much on the body and not as much on the spiritual aspect. The postures were also very challenging. I find it harder to get the most out of a practice when all I am focusing on is my body and not the other spiritual benefits I could be getting from it. I also will most likely not be practicing Bikram yoga because I like to add variety to my practices. While I do like the consistency of Bikram and I think it does serve a purpose for others, the repetitiveness and rigid nature of the practice made it less appealing to me. 

    One of the topics that was focused on in the journal was the yoga practice space being sacred. While it was harder to have the "yogic" atmosphere while staying home, I tried my best to make the space where I practiced my classes, calm and comforting. Every time I did a practice I would either light a candle, dim the lights, or put my salt lamp on in order to set the atmosphere. I would find a quiet place, typically my room, and start my practice. Even though I did benefit from doing these practices in my home,  I missed the energy that in person yoga classes have. I think there is something really powerful about everyone coming together, doing similar asanas, and experiencing the energy together. It adds another element to the class that I think is lost when you practice alone in your home. 

    Another topic that was focused on in the journal was yoga being viewed as a type of exercise. While I do think that yoga has benefits to the body that are similar to other types of exercise and that yoga can be very challenging to the body, I think that it is more than just asanas. While I do like doing power yoga classes when I have the excess energy, I find I get more out of the classes when the teacher focuses on things other than the physical body. For instance, in savasana I like when the teacher inserts more spiritual aspects into the pose. Another example of this is when teacher says things like "keep following the breath even if the pose is hard" because I feel like I carry that off the mat. While I do think focusing on anatomy and proper form is very important in order to not injure the physical body, I find it more impactful and beneficial when the class also focuses on the spiritual aspect of yoga. It becomes less about your body and more about your journey toward your higher self.

     One aspect of yoga that I've also learned is important is consistency in order to get the maximum healing potential out of the practice. I used to practice yoga when I felt like I needed it or if something felt a little off in my body but I think practicing yoga, even when you do not think you need it, is where all the healing happens. While I do love going to my mat when I am feeling stressed or sad and I think its an amazing coping mechanism, I think I get the longer lasting benefits when I do practices when nothing is wrong. I think that this allows me room to explore different types of practices that I necessarily would not take if I was feeling bad about myself. For example, I'm more likely to take a class that focuses on something like self love when I'm feeling happier and I think practices that focus on bigger issues like that are the most beneficial for me. While I love a good yin yoga practice that releases physical, and sometimes emotional tension in the body, I find the ones that tackle bigger concepts and focus on self improvement to be the most overarching beneficial classes. 

    While I've enjoyed yoga for a couple years now, this is the first time that I've realized I'm taking the "Western" version of yoga. It is slightly disheartening that I might not ever experience the type of "traditional" yoga invented in the East, I still feel very lucky to be able to experience parts of it. Western yoga can sometimes focus on the marketing and consumer aspect of yoga. A lot of Westerners stereotype yogis as being middle to high class women with blonde hair and fancy leggings but I think that there is so much more to Western yoga than that. I do not think there is anywhere else in the world that needs yoga more than the Western world. We are overworked and overstressed. Our bodies are hunched and tight and our hearts are closed and individualistic. Even though Western yoga is not yoga in it's purest form, I think it has extreme benefits to Western society and is about more than just getting fit. While the physical aspect seems to be important in Western culture, there is also an element of mindfulness and stress relief at its most basic level in most Western classes. 

    Another aspect focused on in the yoga journals is the aspect of meditation in yoga. I typically practice meditation less frequently than I practice yoga and I typically practice meditation separately from yoga. More recently, after practicing yoga more,  I've realized that there is a very thin line between meditation and yoga. Previously, I've focused on my breath and my movements but I never felt like yoga was a meditation practice. Now I find I'm able to find a meditative state during different times in my practice. I tend to find my head to be clear when I get into a flow with a sequence. If it's more of a repetitive practice I am able to zone out and connect my breath to movement. I also find a meditative state when I do savasana. After flowing and increasing the energy in my body,  I find that this final pose is the most beneficial. It feels so nice to work really hard during the practice, even if the sequence is not physically challenging, and then just letting go and relaxing into the mat. I think that this can relate to life off the mat because if someone is working hard in their everyday life they can look forward to relaxing at the end of the day and letting everything go. 

    The last topic that was touched on in the yoga journals was spirituality and how yoga can help achieve divinity. While I rarely have these divine experiences while I am doing yoga, there was one practice in particular that really impacted the way I feel about divinity. I tried sound healing the first time this semester and it was coupled with a short yoga practice. We did a gentle flow and once we moved into savasana the sound healing began. The teacher played a gong, wind chimes, and singing bowls. This was my first meditative experience where I felt in tune with divinity. It felt like I was not in this body or in this time anymore. I felt like I was one with everything yet I was nothing at all. The vibrations coming from the gong specifically transported me to a place I'd never been in all of my meditative practices. When I opened my eyes it was like I experienced my world differently. Everything seemed to have meaning and every action I did was intentional and mindful. It was probably the most powerful practice that I've done this semester and I will be chasing that divine feeling until I can easily achieve it all the time. It sounds bogus to someone who has never felt that before but it was truly a spiritual experience unlike anything I've ever had before. It was comforting and truly eye opening. It made me feel closer to everyone and unified with everything which, to me, is one of the many elements of spirituality. 

    Overall, this deep dive into yoga has been an amazing experience. I've not only learned so much about myself but also the overall practice. I appreciate yoga in a new way and view it as a vehicle to something that is much bigger than us. While I do not think I'll be reaching the ultimate state of enlightnment any time soon, maybe not even in this lifetime, I feel truly blessed and forever grateful to have found yoga. It came to me in a time where I felt really hopeless and scared for the future. It's taught me that this physical body and these emotions are so minuscule compared to the bigger picture and what the universe has in store. Yoga has been the catalyst to my spiritual journey and I can not wait to see where it takes me next.