So You Want to Take Yoga?

I’m delighted to see more and more of my blogger friends into yoga. Some of them had tried before, stopped and are resuming. Some, out of curiosity, have been trying free yoga classes offered in the metro or are going for trial classes.

If you are also thinking of taking your first yoga class, I have some tips that will ensure that your first experience is not one of pain and trauma but one that will keep you coming again and again.

1. Eat at least 2 hours BEFORE taking a yoga class.

No, it is unpleasant to have someone throw up beside you. Worse if the one who throws up is YOU. So be kind to yourself and to your classmates. Eat sparingly before taking your yoga class and give ample time for digestion (2-3 hours is a rule of thumb). Some poses also massage your organs and if your food is not well digested, you may experience discomfort or cause discomfort to others. Some have been known to pass gas.

2. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

My teacher always says to drink lots of water before and after class. Never during. Yoga will make you break out into a sweat. You would want to keep completely hydrated to allow your body to lose water safely when you sweat out the toxins. Drinking water during the class is discouraged because you put out the “fire” that builds up as you go through the yoga poses.

3. Dress appropriately in workout clothes that are snug, comfy and quick-dry.

Yoga asanas will involve some bending down and over. We once had a female classmate who wore a loose tshirt. As expected, the moment we did Downward Dogs, she was clearly exposed. Another time, we had a male classmate whose shorts were pretty tight. When we executed a pose that required stretching, we heard what seemed like a snap coming from him. We feared he had injured his hamstrings, only to find out he ripped his shorts.

For guys, come in a cotton or spandex top with stretchable shorts. For girls, get a spandex or similar material for a top (tip: when trying these out in the mall, bend over and check the mirror if you’re SAFE). Jogging pants or stretch pants will do for the bottom. I have seen some female students come in stretch shorts as well as sports bras but unless the weather is THAT hot, cover up a little bit more. Skimpy wear that shows more skin than clothes can be distracting to everyone.

4. It’s the breath, not the pose.

The breath is ALWAYS more important than how perfectly you can touch your head to your knee or do a pretzel twist. As you go through the yoga motions, stay aware of when to breathe in and out. This is the key to reaping the health benefits of yoga.

5. Enjoy the experience, not compete with your neighbor.

My yoga teacher always reminded us not to compare our progress with our classmates. We do not need to feel intimidated because the one beside us could do a full split while we could barely manage to open up our legs. Or that someone in front did a head-to-knee perfectly while we could hardly touch the ground with our toes. Your body responds differently and will progress differently from everyone else. You may be able to do asanas that others will find difficult getting into. The reverse could likewise be true. It doesn’t matter.

Your teacher will also tell you which poses can be done the easy way. As you progress in yoga, you can then slowly deepen those poses.

6. Be patient and you will see your improvements over time.

If you became inflexible over several decades as a result of a sedentary life or a desk job, one yoga class won’t make you as flexible as rubber. Be patient with your body and allow it to be trained, stretched and made flexible over time. Go only as far as you can (without feeling pain).

When I talk to beginners, I always tell them to benchmark their first lesson: How far could you bend? How wide could you open up? When you twist, how far do you get? And I tell them that by benchmarking, they would be able to see their own body progress over the months. In my case, I could only touch the floor with the tips of my fingers on my first yoga lesson. It took several months of regular practice to get my palms to the floor and eventually palms down beside my feet.

7. For ladies — please, NO MAKEUP! And leave the lotion behind too.

Doing yoga is sweaty stuff. And you will be needing a towel every so often to wipe sweat off your face. Wearing makeup is definitely discouraged unless you want to end the class looking like Charlie Chaplin. I would also suggest NOT applying hand or body lotion prior to doing a class because the lotion in your hands would make you slip and slide on your mat when you get to the downward poses or those requiring you to push up using your hands. Lotion on other parts of the body would likewise make you slip. Lotion also blocks the toxins from coming out freely as it covers the skin pores.

Lastly, just go in with an open mind, listen always to your body, and have a wonderful yoga experience.

Namaste.

Free Yoga Classes at Blue Wave Mall

(Update: Interested yoga practitioners are requested to call Vinyasa Yoga Center, tel. 637-9003, for details. As the free yoga classes at Blue Wave Mall is a new event, not all those answering the calls at the number given on the poster are aware of these. VYC sends its regrets to those who have been inconvenienced.)

My friend, Minna Estrada, gave me a heads-up that her shala, Vinyasa Yoga Center, is conducting FREE yoga classes at Blue Wave Mall till 3rd week of September 2009. If there are enough participants, the classes could be extended beyond that time.

Blue Wave Mall, for those not familiar with the place, is near Petron in the Mall of Asia area.

The classes follow the Vinyasa style of yoga (asanas are done in a flowing sequence). Beginners and practicing yogis alike are welcome. Call the number given in the poster below for more details.

Report Card: March 16-17, 2009 & Wishes for Yoga for Seniors

I still have not resumed formal yoga classes with my teacher. Instead I have been doing self yoga just to keep my muscles exercised.

Yesterday, I went beyond my normal 2-3 lap warmup walk on the treadmill and went for 1.6kms of brisk walking in preparation for this Saturday’s Walk a Green Mile Walkathon with Ipanema. That took me all of 25 minutes. And my stamina was still up afterwards. That’s a good sign!

I went through a 1.5 hour yoga routine — slowly, at my own pace, breathing slowly, trying to get the asana right. This is the part I enjoy. I have all the time to get into the pose without having to follow the teacher’s count. This way, I can take it slow and easy but still reap the benefits of holding the pose and sweating it out.

A difficulty I noted at certain points of my practice was a pain I had on the inner right thigh running from the crotch area to the knee. I felt that pain doing Trikonasana (Triangle) and the Wide-Angle Forward Bend so I ended up modifying my poses and easing up whenever I felt the pain. It seems like my muscles here have become inflexible once more so it will take patience to work out the kinks once again and bring flexibility back.

This week, I plan to resume formal yoga classes. Maybe that will help me get back into shape faster.

On another bright note, I had the chance to talk about my yoga experience with friends who are in the prime of life. One of them is into Taebo, a regimen she took up after retiring from work. But she confessed that it did not seem enough as she felt not all her muscles were being exercised. I showed her some easy yoga asanas she could do and she seemed really interested in taking up yoga.

This brings me though to a thought because I believe that those starting yoga at her age should not be placed in classes with students half their age. They should be in gentle yoga classes — those cut out for senior citizens or maybe for those 50 and above who are just testing the waters of yoga. And the program has to be tailored to certain concerns at that age — how to combat the onset of osteoporosis, achieving balance to avoid falls, building mass and reducing fat, and gland disorders, among others. And the poses must all be modified and easy, at least until they can become comfortable moving to the next level.

But most yoga classes being offered are too intensive for their age category!

I hope I can find a studio that is willing to take up a program for this category of students in the future. Yoga benefits people of ALL ages and the ones who really need it most are those who have led stressful, unhealthy, inflexible lives and are just realizing it at this point in their senior lives and wish to reverse at least part of the consequences.

Namaste.

C2 Will Do Yoga!

My daughter C2 came up to me the other day and announced that for her P.E. class next semester, she has decided to take up YOGA!

When she was still a baby, she had frequent bouts with asthma. I remember her doctor putting her on all sorts of medicines that already began to alarm me as I was afraid of the long-term effects of medication. But thankfully, she has outgrown the frequent asthma episodes though she still has them, at a lesser degree, and less frequently.

Over summer, I enrolled her at Gold’s Gym nearby where there were yoga classes (taught by my teacher Pio). She was with me one time at the gym and watched as I went through my routine self-yoga. It intrigued her and she has so been wanting to meet my teacher too. But the yoga class was on a Saturday, 7:30 in the morning — an unholy hour for C2 as she was too tired from her study load from M-F.

A few weeks back, thinking of what to get her for her 18th bday this month, it hit me that maybe I should get her a yoga mat….not just any cheap mat but a good, imported one. PinoYoga happened to have a Scooby Doo purple mat (and purple is C2’s favorite color).

So C2’s announcement a few days ago that yoga was going to be her next PE class was an answered prayer for me of sorts. I am excited to have her take this up in the hopes it helps improve her lung strength and capacity. She is also excited to see if she could lose some unwanted inches and poundage. More importantly, I hope that this intro to yoga will somehow stretch into her future lifestyle so that it makes her aware early on of the importance of wellness and health while still young.