Safety, Tools, Body Image, and Competition

[WandererInGray]

In this thread I'd like to discuss the four things in the title. What props/tools you may need. How to practice yoga safely. The ever present discussion of body image; and competition (or lack thereof) with others.

I'm going to break them up into a few posts, *smiles*, so bear with me.

Safety

I do need to note here, I am not a certified teacher. And neither I, nor MysticWicks, can be held responsible for any injuries that may occur while you’re in this class. If you have a history of any major knee or back difficulties, or any other physical problems, I highly recommend seeking out instruction from a certified teacher who knows how to modify poses for your safety. Please do not attempt any poses that cause you pain or that could put your safety at risk without first seeing an instructor and discussing it with a qualified physician. Yoga should be fun, not painful, and while the impact is low – there are advanced poses that can cause serious injury if performed wrong.

There is a traditional warning against women doing any poses that are classified as inversions while they are menstruating. There are ongoing discussions about the validity of this warning. It is felt by some that doing inversions whilst menstruating can cause the blood flow to reverse and disrupt a person’s prana (or life force) flow. It was also thought for a time that this could cause endometriosis, however, new research suggests that a specific type of cells are required for this painful disease. I suggest you make your own determination, and as I said before, if you have health problems it is best if you check with a physician before doing this or any other workouts.

[WandererInGray]

There are really no special tools required here. Though I highly recommend a yoga mat, as trying to do yoga on a wood floor without one hurts, and on carpet without it your feet slip a lot! If you plan on making yoga a regular activity I would suggest you go ahead and get one. You can find mats at Target or any sporting goods store for around $20. They’re also available online at any number of sites.

Blocks, straps, bolsters, etc are fun and good for modified poses; but you don’t have to buy special ones. (unless you want to *grins and winks*)

Substitutes for blocks – good hardcover books (at least 2" thick and not more than 6 inches tall or so), I’ve found videotapes to work in a pinch as long as you don’t put too much pressure on them. If you want to buy blocks, you can find them practically everywhere nowadays. You do want to be careful though and make sure anything you’re going to use is stable enough to support you.

Substitutes for straps – a good flexible belt, robe tie, or a piece of thick rope works just as well as a strap.

Substitutes for bolsters – any folded up or rolled up blanket adjusted to the high desired.

Chairs, sturdy boxes, stairs, walls can all be used for support in various poses. Heck I’ve even used my cat tower at times!

Above all else, make sure what you're using for your props are safe. The whole point of props is to make poses easier for you to do. If your substitute block collapses on you and causes you to crack your head open :D you may be better off without one.

[WandererInGray]

I know very few people, women especially, in the US who are completely happy with their bodies. All of us have some issue or another when it comes to the skin we live in. For years I hated my body, my round shape, my short arms and legs – I constantly compared myself to others and came up lacking.

Over the last few years I’ve developed a shift in consciousness and grown comfortable with the skin I’m in. I am, after all, stuck with it this go around. *grins* Yoga has helped me a great deal with that. When I first started it was frustrating to not be able to bend as far as the people on the video or to not be able to grab my ankles in Bow pose. So there was a lot of on and off in my practice as I let the negative voices in my head have control.

When I got to a point where I was doing yoga consistently though, I saw the results. Without a doubt! Where before I couldn’t get a hold of my ankles in Bow, I progressed to being able to grab one on my own and the other with help. Then eventually both without help. It’s a fantastic feeling when you stick to something and see the results.

Even yoga has its faults, as it’s rare to see larger people in photos for magazines and videos (I’ve heard about an average sized woman who was going to take to making videos, but I don’t know for sure if that ever got off the ground.) Please don’t let it intimidate you. Use it as an opportunity to be honest with yourself – and gentle. To recognize that everyone is different, and that maybe those people in the magazines were once like us, struggling with their weight and body image.

However, that is the second reason why I decided to have PB take pictures of me in the various poses (copyright issues would be the first). Not only will it give you the opportunity to see someone who can’t do the pose perfectly, but it will give you the opportunity to see someone who’s not a size 2 doing the poses also. *grins and winks* I’ll provide you with links to other photos, specifically the Yoga Journal website which has a fabulous index of asanas so you can browse those, but all the photos in this class will be mine.

Yoga is about being gentle on yourself, while still challenging and striving for a goal. About understanding that we’re all different and operate at different levels. Just because I can’t get my heels all the way to the floor in Downward Dog and my sister can, doesn’t mean a thing. I can do Triangle pose quite easily, and she has a super hard time with it.

There will be asanas you can do easily with very little exertion. There will be asanas that are hard at first and grow easier with patience, practice, and time. There will also be asanas you are physically incapable of doing – ever. The point is to not dwell on it and to not compare yourself to others who are involved in the same practice. You’re all moving at different speeds, and what matters is not the time you arrive at the destination, but how you spend the journey there.

[WandererInGray]

There has been a great deal of debate recently about the use of yoga as a weight loss. I know of at least one study (search for Don’s post about that study) done that claimed yoga was not an effective means of exercise for losing weight.

In my mind, the means to achieve weight loss is as personal as the individual trying to do it. What works for one person, may not work for another. As far as I am concerned any physical activity is a good thing, especially for those who have spend a large chunk of their lives sedentary. Lots of movement is good, but for those who may be seriously unused to working out; I would suggest that the worse thing to do is to run or do aerobics.

Why?

Because the chances of injury, or just plain overdoing it are so great.

This is all my personal opinion, by the way. *winks and grins* I speak from my own experience and the last 10 years or so that I have struggled with losing weight. I’d decide to work out one day, go like crazy for a few days, and end up getting a cold or being so tired, sore, whatever I couldn’t/wouldn’t do anything for the next 3 weeks.

And so the cycle continued.

Yoga for me was different. Once I got into it, I’ve found that I enjoy doing it. I look forward to doing it and get cranky, stiff, run-down when I don’t (like lately, oy *rolls eyes*). It is something that means something to me. And if you want to lose weight…that’s the key. Finding something that is worth your time. If you hate running, what makes you think you’re going to haul your butt out of bed at 5am to go for a jog?

It’s the love of the thing, that makes it worth doing. *smiles*

Having said that, I will note that once a yoga style starts feeling "easy" to you…it’s probably time to find a new challenge. A harder pose, longer holds *shrugs* anything to push yourself a little further.

And there are some styles (as I will mention) that are more "intense" than others in terms of the amount of energy you will expend. So you may find some styles are more helpful to weight loss than others. I encourage you to seek out classes, teachers, DVDs, whatever to help you on your journey. There is a wealth of information out there right now on yoga, some of its crap I’m sure, but there’s a lot of good stuff too.