MY WIFE and I have been joining yoga classes in One Yoga, a studio here in our city along Velez St. Of all the types of exercises that I have tried, it is Yoga that sustained me primarily because it’s more than a physical exercise, it is a spiritual and even an emotional experience of being more resilient and aware not just of the things around us but also the inner journey that we experience while doing the various poses.
A lot of my friends who I invite to do yoga are always apprehensive in joining because they thought that you need to be flexible in order for you to join. What they do not know is that Yoga teaches also patience and acceptance. Thus, as one of our yoga teachers would say, where your body is at, that is already good enough. Then, after some time, after submitting ourselves to quiet humility and submission, we are surprised with what our body can do and that it is only our mind that judges and discourages us through fear.
One of the poses that never in my life have I dared to try is a head stand. Until, one of my teachers encouraged and motivated me to try. Lo and behold, with all the strength I have, I was able to do it and my body seems to be looking for this pose whenever I feel anxious or stressed since doing it gives me a certain kind of relief. But just the same, I did not wake up one day and did head stands automatically. More than the outcome, it is all about the journey and the process of preparing the body, the mind and the spirit.
Instagram might have shown you the complicated or even the impossible poses. But according to my teacher, the highest pose in Yoga is what we call the Shavasana or the corpse pose. This is done when a person lies flat back on his mat while his legs and arms are spread as wide as the mat. While most of the exercises out there tells you to do more, carry heavier weights, or even run more distances, Yoga is all about exerting effort so that you would be able to maximize and appreciate your rest or your Shavasana. So, it is not just about doing more, it is about being more satisfied where you are at and feeling better in the process.
Doing yoga gave me a perspective of patience. My practice made me realize that I am limited but there is an innate potential within me that is waiting to be actualized. Just the same, the more that I am made aware of this, the more that I become patient with others as well respecting their own process and journey. Moreover, my wife and I continue to practice Yoga because there is so much that we would wish to discover as we go along the journey of life.