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After a year of yoga practise, this is what I discovered

After a year of yoga practise, this is what I discovered

By Mcguffie AedenPublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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Image courtesy Unsplash

Yoga was something I had lost sight of, but COVID-19 assisted me in rediscovering this priceless gem. Sometimes it takes a major calamity to bring simple facts to our attention. Yoga can bring about significant improvements if practised regularly. I'm amazed at what happened to my body and mind after a year of practise. I decided to look into what makes Yoga so powerful, and this is what I discovered.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YOGA

The first thing I noticed was how emotions would flare up during practice. After finishing a pose like Vrikshasana or Tree Pose, I felt deep emotions surfacing for no reason, and It felt great. Other times I would be emotional away from the mat. Other times I felt irritation. After some weeks, emotions diminished, giving way to other interesting and deeper changes.

After a few months I went for a bike ride and I notice my body was moving differently. There was more coordination and balance. I felt stronger not because of muscle mass, but perhaps because my muscles and ligaments were working with synergy, more intelligently. Flexibility increased dramatically. Backing up my car from the driveway became easy as my head and torso were much looser. Balancing myself in one foot became much easier.

But wait, there’s more. My forever lower back pain disappeared; my intestines begun working like a charm; my level of energy was way up; my sleep was deeper; and my deep breath became deeper, an overall fantastic and delicious feeling of well being prevailed throughout the day. But the most interesting is what it did to my mind.

I became more patient and steadfast and more in control of my actions. More able to pay attention to everything around me, less anxious. My judgment became sharper, better timing. A felt a improved perception of time. I could just wait and see how things turned out before deciding on what to do end what to say. I cot myself thinking “don’t say that. It’s stupid”. why was Yoga affecting these changes? I started to research, and the answer was closer than I though.

MEET YOUR FASCIA

When I found out about fascia, it opened up a new level of understanding about Yoga and the body. And I had no idea fascia and Yoga had such an intimate and complex relationship. So, what is fascia?

Fascia is a network of connective tissues layered in bands wrapping around all the internal parts of the body from head-to-toe enveloping everything. It allows muscles to move freely alongside other structures reducing friction. Fascia is everywhere. Beneath the skin, around muscle groups, bones, nerves, blood vessels, organs, and cells. Biologically, it is what holds us together and give us shape.

Traditionally we are used to the concept body by parts, but our body is one continual organism encased by our fascia. Fascia is rich in nerve endings and constantly collects information about all sorts of things to be processed by the brain. The brain is also constantly sending signals to our fascia. The fascia in some ways is like the brain of our body and there’s a good reason for that.

We as animals trying to survive throughout the ages have relied on our bodies to make decisions. Our ability to move fast and smartly was paramount to our survival. Our proprioception skills had to be good and sharp. Our thinking processes were intimately connected to how we decided to do with our bodies at a precise moment in time.

Today we think with our heads. We imagine and come up with ideas using our thought processes. But without the involving the body, something is amiss. Our higher intelligence becomes compromised because our ancient mind-body connection is not being used. Due to our sedentary lifestyle, bad nutrition, fascia does not work well and it becomes just like a buggy software.

FASCIA AND YOGA

Yoga means ‘unity’ or ‘oneness’ derived from the Sanskrit work yuj which means to join our individual mind with the universal mind.

Yoga movements are so beneficial because they not only introduce novelty educating the body in new ways to move. They stretch and revitalize the fascia, keeping it lubricated, young, playable and smart efficient.

When the fascia is working well it creates a feedback loop with the brain. Communication back and forth is more efficient and unified. The end product of these interaction is larger than the sum of it’s parts.

Yoga stimulates our most refined senses: proprioception and interoception. The improvement of these senses come as a byproduct of practicing Yoga asanas with time. Bellow is a brief description of what these senses are. There are a couple of articles I’ve embedded bellow that offer much more.

Proprioception

Is the sense that tells us where our body is in space. The positioning or our body and the appropriate and responsive commands we sent when we want to move a body part. How we positioned ourselves and apply force and use balance are all associated with proprioception.

Yoga find us in the most uncommon positions our body can be in. This new collection of poses is beneficial because our body reacts positively to novelty rather than the routine. Soon the mind learns new patterns that invariably improves proprioception.

Interoception

Is the perception and understanding of the body from within. A finely nuanced subtle sense that can take a long time to develop. Yoga can help to develop interoception because of its deeper understanding of body alignment, working with the breath and becoming quiet and observant.

As we learn to improve the outward form of yoga asanas, we discover the associated, necessary inner movements and notice subtle physiological changes. With experience, we begin to observe these as they happen.

If you got this far in this article, congratulations! You might want to keep reading and you might start practicing Yoga today.

Yoga and Perception — Mind Fuel Daily The senses play an important part of our yoga practice. We use sight and touch as we perform yoga poses. We use hearing…www.mindfueldaily.com

Feeling your Feelings: Interoception and Yoga | Open Awareness Yoga Do you have trouble feeling your feelings? Are you ever uncertain about who you actually are and what you want to do…openawarenessyoga.com

AN INVITATION TO PRACTICE YOGA

I was introduced to Yoga by Rodney Yee, way back in 1994 when he taught classes in a small studio at Piedmont Ave. in Oakland CA. Rodney’s instructions were crystal clear and precise, I still remember things he said in class — his insight into the heart of Yoga. In fact, I still enjoy his teachings as they are fresh in my mind and just pop up in my screen.

I dusted off “The Iyengar way” from my book shelf and started lessons. This is a great, simple, clean, and straight to the point Iyengar Yoga book. No teacher and no class; I only have myself and my body as a guide. Yes, an occasional Youtube video.

The cool thing about not having classes is that I make my own schedule — every day in the morning. In case you cannot have a teacher, Yoga becomes your teacher if you listen to your body and mind. Teachers will horribly disagree with me here. It’s OK.

I remember Rodney saying: “when you’re in the pose…” and only years later I realized what he was saying. The actual pose is a place. A place where things are in balance and a smart “thing” exist. Your body will tell you when you’re “in the pose”; It is like you enter this place of stability, calm and peacefulness and it feels comfortable and there is no struggle to get anywhere; it should be blissful and fragrant. Some people find some of the poses easier.

Some poses are natural to the body and they feel like places you are familiar with. Others are like being in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language. For those difficult and challenging ones, it’s like traveling to a faraway destination and you are still not there yet. But you can kind of see it coming down the valley bellow, so you keep going. When you finally arrive, you are greeted by a crowd of rowdy friend you haven’t seen in a long time, some of which you even forgot you knew.

I used to think poses or asanas were just strange positions you put yourself in, and if you are not flexible, just muscle it up. But after hurting myself silly I realized; poses have many layers. One must follow the map until we arrive at our destination. And each one of these transitory stages is like a pose within a pose. For example, in trikonasana you first position yourself standing up with the feet apart and reach our straight arm forward and make a crease between your leg and lower torso. That is a pose you must master first, in order to proceed.

I’ve also learned by trial and error that you must slow way down in order to get into a pose correctly. That your fascia must be activated — it’s like honey sliding off the jar. The patience of getting into a pose will alter the perception of time as you tune in into your body and the pose.

A word of caution

Yoga if not done carefully can cause injuries. Contrary to what most people think, yoga is not as safe as appears to be. Stretching beyond the range of motion if not done properly can torn ligaments and cause injury particularly to your wrists, lower back, shoulders, elbows, knees, hamstrings, and neck.

Repetitive motion and forceful positioning of the body in often wrong alignment are behind most injuries. In order to prevent injury always to start slowly and take as much time as needed to get into a pose. There is a just right balance between using our muscles and just balancing the body using time leverage in order to get there.

Yoga practice leads to the realization of simple truths. It bring alive the colors of the world around us. We notice them in all its splendor and beauty. The connection that exist between our body and mind becomes clear. But before I overdose you in kumbaya, let’s go to mat and our body with Yoga.

References

  • Biotensegrity-Anatomy for the 21st Century Informing Yoga and Physiotherapy Concerning New Findings in Fascia Research
  • Fascia as a Sensory Organ
  • Interoception, emotion and brain: new insights link internal physiology to social behaviour

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Mcguffie Aeden

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