Reading Response 2

Before class yesterday, the sutras we read about the five vrittis did not make much sense to me. I didn't really understand why sleep, good thought, imagination could be bad. After the discussion in class, I understood that each of these need to be monitored and kept still through the practice of yoga. In my personal life, I have noticed that if I get "too much sleep" (how is that possible in college???) then I have a headache all day or feel extremely groggy. I don't want to get too caught up in good thoughts, truths, facts, that I do not allow myself to imagine and dream. On the other hand, I don't want to get lost in the world of fantasy and imagination and forget to focus on what is really in front of me. I'm beginning to learn that yoga is about balance; not only of the physical body, but the inner man, as well.

Practice Post 2

I absolutely LOVED class on Tuesday. One of my favorite things to do is laugh, and I did plenty of that in class. I like that we are learning to be ok with what our bodies can and cannot do; and, not to compare between ourselves.
My favorite part of class on Tuesday was the improvement I could see from pose to pose. When we did the pose (wish I could remember the name) that involved wrapping your legs and arms up, and then went back and did tree pose again, I was much more balanced. And, we did downward facing dog, a lot. Honestly, when Dr. Schultz was talking about feeling like she was dying in virasana, that is how I am feeling in downward facing dog. However, when we did supta virasana and then downward facing dog, I felt much better. The different stretches help me move in ways I didn't think possible, especially on day 3.
I can't wait to see what else I can do tomorrow!

Reading Response 1

Where do I even begin? I did not want to stop reading How Yoga Works. The story of a man's back being healed through yoga practice? What could be more perfectly inspirational for me? In order to understand fully, let me tell you a little backstory:
When I was 16 years old, I went to a soccer camp to prepare for the upcoming season. At that camp, I injured my back. Upon examination, I was told that I had a herniated disk. Normally, people can live with herniated disks and never know, never have any pain. I was one of the unlucky few. My herniation was pushing on a nerve that runs down the outside of my right leg, straight down into my middle toes. I did almost a year of physical therapy, two steroid shots in my back and ultimately back surgery two months after my 17th birthday. Ever since then, my back has hurt. Somedays is it worse than others, but it always hurts. Ok, thats the end of my sob story.

Now you know why this story was so powerful for me to read. I cringed at the part where Friday accused the Captain of not truly wanting healing if he would not be consistent in practice. I felt guilty during parts where the Captain wanted to rush his healing and would not be patient. I felt compassion when the Captain said, "But I do want it...I do want to be healed. It hurts, you know....It all...hurts" (19). I know the feeling and after reading, I have become determined. I want healing and I refuse to allow laziness and apathy to rule me any longer.

Practice Response 1

Yesterday was my first official day of Yoga. Ever. Never having taken a class before, I was nervous. I am inflexible and was not confident in my ability to do any poses. I also have a bad back (but, more on that in my reading response post). Needless to say, I was a little wary. I was pleasantly surprised to leave class feeling successful. The poses were hard, and my form was rough, to say the least, but at least I did it. I finished my first day. I liked that even just after repeating the poses a few times, my body loosened up and I could stretch farther than the first attempt.

One interesting thing I noticed was about my toes. Now, I have noticed this before, but never really thought about it. I can stretch the toes of my left foot apart, making space between each toe. However, my right toes just do not seem to be connected to my brain the way my left toes are. They simply do not want to cooperate. No matter how hard I tried on Tuesday, they would not budge. Like I said though, I have noticed this many times in my life. I am interested to see if by the end of this class my toes begin listen to my brain and move when I tell them to.

Yoga Introduction

Hello!

I am excited about taking this course and learning more about the ancient practice of yoga. I have never taken a yoga class, only tried a few home DVDs that ended with frustration at being unable to do most poses. I hope to gain not only an ability to do poses, but a new appreciation for the practice and philosophy behind it.

Cameron