I am a relatively new devotee of yoga. I have dabbled in it for several years, but it is really the last year that I have committed to a regular practice.

I have been an athlete all of my life, but have never taken the time to stretch. I swear I woke up on my 40th birthday and was unable to reach my toes; my hips and knees ached; my back and neck hurt. At the suggestion of several friends, I decided to seriously pursue yoga.

It is amazing to me how my aches and pains have decreased. My flexibility is better than it has ever been.

The most surprising result to me, though, is the applicability of yoga concepts – both physical and spiritual – to other aspects of my life. There are many concepts learned in yoga that I take beyond the mat.

PHYSICAL

1.  Core strength is essential. I know yoga is not the only discipline that teaches this, but it is a key element to my yoga practice. My instructors gently repeat “uddiyana bandha” throughout our session. This phrase is Sanskrit and basically translates to an abdominal lock – or in other words, pull your stomach in and your pelvic core up. Tighten the abdominal area. If you do this throughout the practice, there are two results – (a) you protect other key areas of your body, such as your back, when doing your poses, and (b) you get a fiercely strong stomach.  This has helped my posture tremendously;  I now sit and stand much straighter. When I am doing something physical – running, hiking, moving furniture – and I am fatigued and need a special push to make it through, I tighten my core. It is so surprising to me the amount of strength that comes from this area.

2.  I was the kid that always fell off the balance beam in gym class. I blamed it on being tall and having a high center of gravity. Now, at forty-four, I can stand on one foot on a balance beam and bring the other leg up behind my head in king dancer’s pose. Part of my daily yoga practice is devoted to balance. You might think that this is useless, but I have found otherwise. A week ago, I was in the mountains hiking with my husband and a neighbor. We were hiking a trail on which we had to cross over streams five or six times. Each crossing involved at least one difficult transition where one foot was on one rock and you had to balance while looking for the most secure next step. I thought then of my yoga balance poses and how similar the situations were. Also, there have been times that I have started to trip or slip on something and I was able to catch my balance where I would not have been able to do so before.  The abdominal strength is important with regard to balance as well; I find that if I exercise uddiyana bandha, I am much more stable.

3.  Yoga has increased my overall strength and built muscles I never knew existed. The muscle tone makes me feel good and more confident in all that I do. It has incredible overall health benefits. I have been suffering from hip pain when running; through strengthening my glutes, I believe I am running more evenly and the hip pain has greatly dissipated.

SPIRITUAL

1.  It always seems to be the exact moment that I am beating myself up for not doing a particular pose better, when one of my yoga instructors will say something along the lines of  – “be good to yourself and accept what your body is willing to give you today.”   The first couple of times that happened, I looked around to see if they were looking at me and had somehow read my mind; but they were not and had not. Be good to yourself. How many of us do this? My guess is not enough and not often enough.

2.  Do not pay any attention to what your neighbor is doing. I am there to improve myself; it is not a competition. Given my background in sports, this was not an easy thing for me – and, honestly, I still struggle with it. I am a competitive person. How much happier would we all be, though, if we compared ourselves less to our neighbors?

3.  When things get hard, focus on your breath. In my yoga practice, the times when I have to really follow this principle is when in lizard pose or pigeon pose. My hips are extremely tight and these hip opening poses are tortuous for me.  The only way I can get through these is to focus on my breath. I even imagine drawing the breaths through my hip joints. I recently used this tool when I was in a life situation that would have ordinarily made me nervous; and it helped.

LIFE LESSONS

On a lighter note, there are a few lessons that it seems like we should all have learned prior to adulthood. Along with many others, I somehow missed several of them.

1.  Chanel No. 5 is a lovely scent in the right circumstances. At 6:00 am in the morning, on a sweaty person, it is not a good thing. Perfume in general is a bad idea for yoga.

2.  Respect your neighbor’s personal space. We are all sweaty and gross. Close talkers should be prohibited.

3.  Clean up after yourself. I need to just go ahead and bring a mop into the studio. I don’t glow, I don’t perspire – I SWEAT.

4.  Men and women – wear appropriate undergarments. We are going to twist and go upside down. Be prepared for it. Otherwise, it is very distracting and will cause me to fall out of my pose.