Yoga – my journey so far – how Iyengar yoga changed my life

“Yoga allows you to find a new kind of freedom that you may not have known even existed.” B.K.S. Iyengar (1918-2014) founder of Iyengar yoga.

My journey with yoga started 15 years ago, completely by accident – but it changed my life forever. I went from being a clumsy, unfit person with shocking spacial awareness, who was always falling over things, tripping over, crashing into things into a fitter, healthier and ‘stable’ person.  It helped me stretch, helped bring me peace and helped me focus.

How I found yoga

I was working in admin in a university in Manchester, a friend mentioned her friend was looking for people to come along to classes as she needed people to ‘practise’ her teaching techniques within a class setting.  I thought ‘why not’ as I knew I needed something to help my fitness and wellbeing.
I was in my late 30s at the time and knew that I needed I could do every week.  It was only down the road from work and fitted with my life.

Not a sporty person – Iyengar yoga helped me

I liked hill walking but isn’t something you can do every day.  I’m not sporty and am rubbish at ball sports so they were all out as exercise options.  I’m not competitive; I didn’t want to run and didn’t have time to fit in swimming to my schedule.  I’d also tried various music-based exercise classes – Step, bumps and tums etc.  But although I love music, I just couldn’t keep up with the routines.

I didn’t know masses about yoga before I started, I thought it was about meditation, going ‘omh’ alot and being super bendy.   However, I knew I needed something.   So that’s how I met Jackie my first yoga teacher – she was very patient with me – and guided me, encouraged me and helped me learn the postures (asanas) and how they are connected.  She taught me how to breathe, move and integrate the mental and physical aspects of yoga into my life.    One of the first things she said to me was I looked like ‘a banana’ when I was lying on the floor in the corpse pose.  I had no idea I wasn’t lying in a straight line.  Slowly I got the hang of yoga and things started to improve for me – for an hour each week my brain started to empty of the ‘mental chatter’ and I got much more toned, supple and fitter.  When I can’t get to class I do my practice at home following a couple of youtube teachers.

Jackie was undertaking the three-year training course to become an Iyengar yoga teacher and still teaches in Manchester now.  I’ve not been to her classes for a long time now as they don’t fit with my working life.   But I’ve always looked yoga teachers with long term experience and a supportive environment.  I would strongly recommend looking for a form of yoga where the teachers have long training and accredited professional development.

I’ve had a few yoga teachers since then and currently go to yoga classes local to me in Eccles in Salford – with Sadhana Ali (www.sadhanayoga.co.uk) who is all round fabulous – she combines a variety of yoga traditions with a strong emphasis on breath and postures – she believes anyone can benefit from yoga

What is Iyengar Yoga?

BKS Iyengar outlined this form of yoga in his book ‘Light on Yoga’ in 1966 he’d already been practising, developing and teaching yoga for 40 years at this point.  It’s a precise form of yoga which emphasises posture and breath, building on ancient yoga techniques found in Hatha Yoga.   Each posture (asana) has a Sanscrit name and clear explanations of how the posture can help the person.  People use foam blocks, supports, belts etc to help with the posture – it really helps with strength and stability as well as general mobility.

choose #yoga – it helps with breath in every part of your life

Ways yoga helps me 

There are so many ways yoga has helped me.  The first things I noticed was I could feel my hamstrings stretching and I stopped the chatter in my head’  for an hour a week.

• when you’re doing yoga you think about your what each part of your body is doing – twisting arms a different way, pulling stomach in, placing you feet and weight in various positions.  So it calms all the thought churning around my brain; I’m in ‘the moment’.
• stay active – and also how to stand well, have good posture.
• stay flexible – I’ve always been rather hypermobile – even at my largest I could still touch my toes.
• my osteoarthritis – as it helps my flexibility and my arthritis and pain levels would be worse if I hadn’t done so much yoga and continuing to do yoga regularly.
• I take notice of my breath (this I do when I’m not in a class too) so this helps with pain and helps my wellbeing generally.  I learnt to breathe deeply and also move as you inhale and exhale. It’s hard to explain what a massive impact learning to breathe differently has had on all aspects of my life.
• Focus – it helps me focus on one issue, one aspect of my life, my body, my health and ‘zone out’ other issues.
• My husband and I do yoga together 🙂 He’s a newbie though, he’s only been practising yoga a couple of years – I dragged him along as he kept getting hamstring injuries from running.

What yoga isn’t?

• A quick fix – I’d say it takes about 4-6 classes to see a difference – for me it was my hamstrings stretched and I could breathe easier going upstairs/hill walking.  For other people the changes are different.
• A linear journey – some days you can do an asana and some days you can’t. Sometimes your breathe is in synchronicity with your postures and sometimes it isn’t – go with the flow about it and try again tomorrow.
• about getting into body-defying poses/head stands – sometimes it’s surprising what you can do but it isn’t a competition with yourself or other people.
• for people with injuries or long term conditions – Iyengar (and Hatha) yoga are particularly good, as you only do what you can do; using foam blocks or belts to help you get into the postures, and ALL the postures can be adapted.
• Just physical changes or just mental changes – it’s a combination.
• nor is it something only thin, young people can do – it’s something for everyone, at all ages, most health situations.

It is definitely, true that the longer you do yoga for the more it helps your life and wellbeing.  I’ve been doing yoga most weeks for the last 15 years and I can’t imagine it not being in my life. When I formally started learning and integrating mindfulness into my life five years ago, so much of it was familiar to me through yoga.

Iyengar Yoga with an injury/health condition?

Yes it’s more than possible to do yoga with a long term condition or an old injury 🙂 I’ve done seated yoga when I’ve crunched an ankle or my back pain was too bad to lay on the floor, even with many mats.  I do know that if I hadn’t done so much yoga my osteoarthritis would have been much worse. Yoga didn’t cause my osteoathrtitis either – I had a genetic disposition to develop it in my 40s (all the women on both sides of my family have it and live with it into their 80s and 90s).  Yoga, especially Iyengar yoga, has a focus on supporting people with health conditions or injuries, hence the use of foam blocks mats and supports.

As I’ve said above, a good yoga teacher will help you and adapt the postures/class for your situation.

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How Iyengar yoga changed my life #yoga #beginner beginner’s yoga #iyengar #breath #balance #flexibility #focus

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“Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.”–B.K.S lyengar

Try Iyengar Yoga or another tradition

There are many kinds of yoga so it’s all a bit confusing – so check out these posts on my blog:

• Beginner’s Yoga – which style suits you? – Hatha, Yin, Ashtanga, Vinyassa flow,
• Be Present with yoga

So what’s stopping you? have a go at yoga? what’s the worst that happens? You might like it. It might change your life :-).   

Find an accredited yoga teacher near you:

• British Wheel of Yoga: www.bwy.org.uk
• Iyengar Yoga UK and Ireland – www.iyengaryoga.org.uk

There are national associations for all the main types of yoga so have a look online – and look for feedback and recommendations.

The most important issue is finding a teacher who has taken long term training and discusses your specific health issues or injuries with you before the class.

*****

Let me know if you’ve tried yoga in the comments or you’d like to?  It might change your life – it did change mine – I can’t remember the last time I tripped and when flying 😉

Thank you Iyengar Yoga 🙂

Carpe Diem

Love Bec xx xx xx

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