Why I Chose This Idea
I chose the idea to further develop my flexibility through learning five advanced yoga poses. As a health major, physical activity and healthy living are very important to me. Yoga was something that I invested myself in last summer and I found that it really had a positive impact on my holistic health. So, when this learning project arose, I thought I would take advantage and use this as a way to get back into the routine of practicing yoga.
Holistic Benefits
I thought that this idea would benefit me in my mental, emotional, and physical health—all aspects in my life that I try and take care of.
Within my physical health, I didn’t see as much progress as I had wished for. But I felt a lot better, and I think that is a very big indicator in terms of healthy living. I think as I keep practicing yoga, I will definitely see more physical benefits. But I think yoga is a really unique form of exercise because it pushes the body, and you get to see how your body can bend and move—that’s a really cool thing to me.
Emotionally, yoga makes you focus on the present moment and has helped be become aware of my feelings and learn to deal/control them.
For my mental, this is where I found the most benefits while practicing yoga. I discovered that yoga really helped me deal with my stress and anxieties, and cleared my mind. Yoga became a brain break and something that I looked forward to throughout the day, because it is an opportunity to focus on myself.
The Struggles were Real
With this learning project, I struggled with the motivation piece. Because this project focuses on physical activity, there are some days that you just don’t want to do it. Especially as the semester became busier and busier, exercise always seems like the easiest thing to cut out first (even though it’s the best thing for us).
Another struggle that I had is that I started associating yoga with homework. And as a professional procrastinator, there were times where I didn’t want to do yoga, or read about it because it was homework. And sometimes you just want a break from homework. In saying that, I got over this quickly because it was homework that actually interested me, and if I had to do homework I was going to do choose yoga.
Throughout this project, I also had a lot of struggles in regards to the progress I was seeing. I’ve mentioned it before, but we are a society of seeing results. Often times when people diet, or begin to exercise they are quick to give up because they aren’t seeing those immediate results. So when I kept trying to push my body to bend into these poses and still couldn’t quite get there, it quickly became frustrating. However, the more I read about these poses in learning how to break them down and stretch out the specific muscles that are getting worked in the pose. I have learned that these poses are for very advanced “yogi’s”. I don’t regret in the poses I chose though, as this is something that I really want to accomplish. And though the end goal is still far away, it’ll be worth it once I get there. Also by having this difficult goal, I am accomplishing a lot of little goals that I had for my self along the way.
For Next Time
Something that I would do differently is take more progress pictures of my self. Again, I got too focused on the end result and so when I practiced yoga throughout the day, I would find a video online to do—complete it, then take time to stretch out specific muscles—try the advanced poses and I couldn’t get there so it wasn’t time to take a picture yet. I became to caught up in getting the work out in for the day, that I didn’t really take the time to take pictures of myself. Which is a large aspect of this project, but I demonstrated progress. Especially since I had a lot more progress mentally then physically at this point, and I tried to describe that through blog posts.
What I Learned Throughout This Project…
I discovered a lot about my self the more time I invested into yoga. First and foremost, I learned that I have a lot of stress and anxiety weighing down on me and I need to address sooner rather than later.
This semester was a stressful one, not only did I have to worry about classes, but I also had to start making some life decisions about the future. Because I am not sure where I want to teach, or if I want to teach, or if I want to go travel first, or if I just want to sub, or if I want to just bum around and save money and then go travel, these “what ifs” I continually think about in regards to my future caused me a lot of stress. In practicing yoga, I learned to become aware of these stressors, and how to (somewhat) deal with them. The most I got from this project was the mental benefits that come from yoga, which I am pleased with. As I think mental health is often something that society doesn’t place a lot of importance on. Though it is getting more and more attention, it is still something that people often push to the side).
What I’ll Continue to Work on
Headstand: I can complete the headstand on my own without a wall, but my confidence is still rather though. I would also like to get to the point where I can just inch my feet closer and closer in towards my body then slowly raise one leg at a time in order to get up. What I do, is inch my feet as close as I can and then kick my self up. So there is still a lot of momentum that I am using to force the headstand. But I think that is beneficial that I am still completing the pose, and getting my body and mind used to being upside down. Here is me doing a headstand! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDDQS_mWDxM
Crow Pose: I can complete crow pose!!! Some days I am better at it than others. Some days I don’t trust my muscles (if they are sore, or feel worn out) to hold myself. But this is a pose I can complete, which I am very pleased with myself. My goal for this pose is again to become more confident in trusting my body to hold myself, and be able to hold it for a longer period of time.
King Pigeon: This pose is still really challenging for me. Though I can feel progress in how far I can stretch my hips, this pose requires a deeper stretch than I can complete. This pose also demands a lot of stretch within the shoulders, and this is an area that I struggle with. My shoulders are very weak due to a lot of strain I have put on them, and they are work in progress in terms of recovery.
Side Crow Pose: This is a pose that I am nowhere near being able to complete. In order for me to complete this pose, I need to gain more upper body strength.
Compass Pose: This pose is still very challenging for me, but one that I hope to continue to see progress in. I think this pose is really unique in that in works so many different muscles within the body—that’s also what makes it very challenging. In order for me to complete this pose, I need to continue practicing yoga on a daily basis and try poses that will help increase my flexibility in the hamstrings, hips, and shoulders.
Online Resources
These are a few resources that I really liked and used a lot throughout this project. Some I used to look for different articles, some for research, some for videos!
1. Way of Gray
2. Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5nyrD4eM64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_SE2gQwXoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKwhobK_zzQ
5. Twitter
@yogadork
@yogaglo
@yogavibes
@artofyoga
@shareyoga
6. Yoga Journal
Because The Flexible Do Not Get Bent Out Of Shape
Throughout this learning project, I discovered a lot about my self in regards to my mental health. Last summer when I got into yoga, I didn’t see as many mental benefits as it was summer time and I had very few things stressing me out. However practicing yoga throughout this semester has been a vey great stress reliever. Like I said, yoga became something that I looked forward too throughout the day. As it was time that I got to focus on myself and it set aside the stress, and helped me become aware of my anxieties.
acaciabrodie 