Yay for Yoga!

Tonight was my first Yoga class at UCR Extension. It's the first class in a two-year Iyengar Yoga program. At the end of the program, I'll have down the "Fundamentals of Yoga" and certificates in "Theory and Practice" and "Teacher Training."

Tonight's class is called Iyengar Yoga, Part I.

Iyengar Yoga was created by B.K.S. Iyengar. I don't know too much about it yet.

Here's what I do know:

It focuses on proper posture, and instead of forcing our bodies into poses, we use props like folded blankets, wood blocks and straps to help our bodies get into poses.

So, in my experience, classes are slower and more thoughtful. Students take their time getting into a pose, with lots of demonstration and explanation from the teacher. Students get into a pose several times. The teacher explains what's happening with the muscles and stuff, and the students try to feel it and do it.

This fosters a mind that is aware and thoughtful.

In an Iyengar class, I don't push myself too hard. I "listen" to my body. I feel like I am treating it right. When I leave classes I'm more aware of my posture, thoughts and actions in everyday life. I focus on what I'm doing and do it well. I am happy. My mind isn't running crazy.

It's been a while since I've done any Yoga, so I'm really excited to get back into a regular practice.

My teacher is really cool. He wears these crazy shorts that look like a diaper but must be incredibly comfortable. His response to everything is "right on." Like when he was calling role:

"Eui-jo?"

"That's me."

"Right on."

I felt like he really meant it. He made me happy to be Eui-jo and to be there.

We only did about 13 poses. But we did them a few times with several demonstrations from the teacher. I don't even know his name. I was late to class...but I refused to get stressed out about it! It's Yoga, right? No stress! Right on!

The first was Mountain Pose. I missed that one, so I came home to read about it in my "Light on Yoga," by B.K.S. Iyengar.

The Sanskrit name of Mountain Pose is "Tadasana."

Here's Mr. Iyengar. He's right on.

To be properly in Mountain...

Stand with your feet together, heels and big toes touching. Lift your toes off the ground and stretch them out, but keep the big toes touching. Try to have the left and right sides of the ball of your foot and the left and right sides of your heel grounded. You are standing firmly and evenly on four points on each foot.

Tighten your knees and pull your kneecaps up. Tighten the backs of your thighs and draw the fronts of your thighs up. Draw your butt down and tighten your abs. Imagine that your pelvis is full of water...you don't want any to slosh out.

Pull your shoulder blades in towards each other and down. This will lift your stomach and propel your chest out and up. But keep the bottom of your body the same.

You can lift your arms up or keep them at your sides.

Now imagine yourself tall and strong, like a mountain.

Tada! (sana)

The reason this pose is so important is because pretty much every pose after this will use the same posture. In fact, if you notice your posture right now, you're probably slouched forward, with your chest collapsed and your heart closed off.

Open up your heart!