Yoga East Meets West Reflection

 Yoga East Meets West Reflection

Yoga East meets West is not what I expected when I first started this class. I expected to learn only the physical aspects of yoga, not knowing that it goes much deeper than just the practice of asanas. Everything I thought I knew came from young yoga teachers who did not really know any more than the rest of us practicing in the classroom. I am almost positive that they did not learn half of the information I learned from this course. 

            However, I immediately noticed that I bought into the consumer culture created around yoga. I invested in a lot of yoga “essential” items over the years to enhance my practice, not knowing it was a marketing scheme. Although, this experience has taught me that I do not really need anything to enhance my practice, not even a yoga mat. Some yoga items can be useful. However, I realized that the experience depends not on the items I have with me but on the state of mind I enter the practice. I think in order to reap the mind, body, and spiritual benefits from yoga, we have to be receptive, or else we block our true potential.

Body 

As I kept practicing the asanas, I felt a significant amount of improvement in flexibility. However, I did attempt to dive deeper into a stretch that my body was not ready for. Apart from the weekly yoga practices, I also stretched whenever I was able to increase my flexibility. On week 11, I was at work and felt some mild stiffness from sitting down for several hours, so when no one was looking, I practiced the natarajasana pose or dancer pose, which I stretched beyond my flexibility, causing a back muscle strain. I could not bend, had some difficulty walking, and had radiating pain down to my hip and gluteus muscles. I felt a little discouraged because the paint lasted for a little over a week and felt as though it set me back in my practice. Despite the pain I experienced, I continued to practice. 

            I found the physical aspect of yoga very impacting and rewarding because it was challenging. At first, it looks easy, but once you start to dive into each pose and transition to them and then repeat the sequences like in Ashtanga yoga, it wears you out, almost leaving you out of breath, at least when you are a beginner. However, the exhaustion almost feels good, and focusing on my breathing and posture always helped me to forget. In the end, I felt tired yet good, just like a workout. Through my experience with yoga over the past weeks, I noticed how the physical fitness aspect could seem to purify; at least, it has felt purifying at times. This feeling is very similar to that runner's high feeling, and the “feel good” feeling you get when you finish your distance goal.   At first, I thought I could only achieve a meditative state solely through meditation, precisely, in a sitting style of meditation; however, the combination of asanas and pranayama techniques made me come to that realization that it is not the only way. 

Mind

            Quieting my mind and keeping it from wandering was challenging at first. However, through my consistent practice of yoga, I have been able to clear my mind faster than I did previously. As mentioned before, I previously dabbled with meditation, and I like that yoga practices like Sivananda and Ashtanga incorporate meditation and or prepare the mind to meditate in practice. I was first introduced to mediation when I was in high school by practicing savasana and focusing on the breath after a sequence of yoga poses. I think they should coexist in yoga practices for a more meaningful and impacting experience, especially if you are seeking spirituality. Meditating has always brought me mental clarity and a sense of calmness. It also reminds me that my problems and worries are much smaller than what I make them out to believe and that I need to let go of what is out of my control. Most importantly, it reminds me that my thoughts, as obscure and obnoxious as they can be I need to learn to obverse them, let them go, and counteract the negative thoughts with positive ones. I do believe that our thoughts, like experiences, leave impressions on the brain and you being to believe and act out negative thoughts, and that is why meditating is such an important aspect of yoga that should be implemented into our lifestyle. 

Spirit

            As for the spiritual aspect, I feel as though I have experienced that “aha moment” of enlightenment; however, I did not do so from practicing meditation and or yoga to get there. It just happened one morning sitting on my hammock where I was just so hyper-aware of everything around me, and I felt completely connected to the world. I have been chasing that moment ever since, and that is why I started seeking more meditation and yoga to get there. That experience that I was ahead of only lasted but a few minutes, but at that moment, it was as if time slowed down, and it just felt blissful. Unfortunately, I have not experienced that same feeling again, but I have felt a moment of peace and gratitude after my yoga practices which makes me feel more connected to myself and the world, and that is the closest to the feeling of bliss I have been able to experience since. I hope that with more practice, I can have that feeling of bliss again and be able to attain it permanently. However, I know that in doing so, it is only the begging of my spiritual journey.

Limitations & Realization

            Looking back at my yoga journals and practices throughout the semester, I realized that I limited myself from having the full yoga experience because even though I practiced 1-2 times a week, I only practiced at home through yoga YouTube videos. I would have benefited from a teacher who could have also prevented me from injuring myself by correcting or adjusting my posture. I also would have had a different spiritual experience if I had more of the community aspect in my weekly practice. I work in a hospital, and ironically I am a little bit of a germaphobe, which COVID  has also heightened that anxiety of being in closed and small spaces with a lot of people during the pandemic. I do not just worry about contracting it and giving it to my mother, but I also worry to I am exposing it to other people since I am more likely to get exposed than non-clinical workers. I hope to continue to build on this practice and remain consistent so that I can experience yoga in a studio more regularly once I am done with school, and the coronavirus is no longer such a threat. 

            Looking back at my yoga journals, I forgot how much I enjoyed other yoga practices that were more physically oriented, such as Bikram and Iyengar yoga. During the last few weeks, I have gone back and forth between practicing Sivananda and Ashtanga yoga that I forgot how much I enjoyed the other practices and would like to revisit them. Bikram yoga is one of the practices I would like to practice in a real yoga studio to experience its true practice and incorporation of tapas.  I also noticed that as I kept practicing, the less I relied on certain rituals, such as using the essential oil and incenses. However, practicing in a clean space with natural lighting is still necessary to begin my practice. If not, I am easily distracted by the task I did not yet do. 

The last thing 

            All in all, I realized that even though I had some experience, I came into this course mediocrely and now feel a little more knowledgeable. I noticed I still have only begun scratching at the surface of yoga. I have always seen meditation as being part of my regular practice, but now I know that yoga can give me those same benefits and sometimes even offer more than meditation alone. Yoga can give me those same benefits and sometimes even offer more than meditation alone. There is much more inner work that I need to do in order for me to feel everlasting happiness by letting go of my attachments. I can be very fixated and controlling when something does not go as planned it can be very disruptive to me, and that is something that I know I still have to work on, and I believe that through yoga and meditation, I could let go of some of those attachments that often hold us back. To practice more gratitude and positive thinking daily, which yoga can also aid in.