Come Om With Me - the yoga thread

[LCHammer]

Following on from the Yoga etiquette thread. I started yoga this week and I'm doing some catch up reading. It's a huge area so I'll just focus on doing a few basic things as best I can, for the time being. I'm also decluttering and cleaning. Is this a slippery slope? I have very little 'free' time.

There are loads of yoga sites online with free exercise videos, so if anyone's thinking of getting back into it, maybe that's a way to encourage yourself?

I missed my class this week, on account of not being that well (still not 100%), and I didn't really want to repeat the fainting asana that I managed before Christmas.

Oh no, no fainting. Were you exhausted then?

I had a brief look online but some sites seem a bit 'hardcore' or pushy with retreats and DVDs and things. In a while I might feel ready to ex

...explore.

Hi, love the thread title!

I'd really like to give yoga a try. Wouldn't be able to attend classes though, as I have been told I'd have to take it reeeeeally slowly/gently by my specialists (I have CFS/ME as well POTS which can make me dizzy)

So pretty much just a little bit in my living room now and again. Any recommendations for very gentle introductions? Or should I just get back on the wii fit yoga :o

(Oops I forgot to say 'please' sorry )

Oh no, no fainting. Were you exhausted then?

No- the next day I came down with a massive cold, but I hadn't had any symptoms till that point. We weren't even doing anything particularly taxing.

I quite like the way you can search for different levels and durations of sessions in this site - www.doyogawithme.com/yoga_classes

This one's also got a good mix. www.ekhartyoga.com/videos

I also have this one bookmarked, but I've not got round to using any of the videos yet. yogayak.com/free-yoga-classes-online/

There are others, too. But you should definitely be able to find some short, gentle sequences.

Thanks for the links. I'll have a good look. I think it's just what I've been waiting for. No jumping cardio. Contrary to how I thought I'd be I think I quite like the more esoteric part of it too. As long as its not OTT - which made some of the sites I read sound just gibberish. In a bad way.

Fuzzpig - aFAIK you do need to be quite gentle with ME/CFS. Perhaps you could go to a beginners class and do things you can. No comparing and competing seems to be emphadised in all the things I've read.

Sorry to get back to it, eBearhug. When you fainted was everyone completely calm and unflustered? :)

It wasn't as dramatic as all that, because I could feel myself getting lightheaded and faint, so I was already sat on the floor by the time I went (trained first aider taking preventative action), which was only very briefly, and my hearing was there all along - I then just sat with my head between my knees, sweating massively, and I sipped water while everyone else carried on with the class, then I joined in for relaxation, and felt fine by the end of the class.

We've got some others in the class with joint and other problems, so it's not unusual for some people to be doing different things from others, adapted exercises and so on, so I don't think anyone else particularly noticed, although the teacher was quite concerned for a bit.

Ebearhug - there's Some good introductory reading on the first link, thanks for posting it. I fell asleep to one of the videos last evening. I did another this morning, slightly spoiled by DH coughing near me and the cat coming in the room. BTW good first aid use. I hope you feel better and can enjoy today. It looks gorgeous so far.

Things have moved on quickly for me. I'm not particularly bendy or stretchy but I've also joined a Meditation class and find myself reading more about yoga.

Hi, I have recently been 'converted' to yoga after years of trying the odd class and thinking 'meh...dull...don't get it' . I do lots of kickboxing and lift heavy weights though and whilst my hips and legs are super flexible, my chest and shoulders are really tight, unsurprisingly! So my New Years resolution was to find a yoga class I could just about bear in order to stretch it all out. Luckily there are loads of different classes near me.

I naively started with kundalini...a very bad plan ...did a bit of basic level iyengar..still a bit meh..then asthanga (definitely more like it) and now am fairly addicted to hot yoga at Fiercegrace. As I understand it, it's like a slightly less hardcore version of bikram and I'm loving it, feel amazing afterwards. I can't figure out if it's the longer rests between weights sessions improving my strength or the yoga but it's good either way ! My biggest challenge is getting the relaxing and breathing bit, I am much more of a grit my teeth and push hard type person with exercise! Great to be doing something so different and I think it's a fantastic counterbalance for martial arts training.

That's an impressive schedule. I read up on Fierce Grace, I think I'd die. Appropriately enough, my iPhone wants to autocorrect Grace for grave. Big at starting with kundalini. I think that's something you gradually slip into, or evolve into :)

LC... I spent the hour and a half felt like at least a day with eyes mostly shut, occasionally peeking around through one incredulously! Didn't help that the kickboxing dojo I go to is downstairs and I could hear the guys I train with yelling and kicking pads/bags - must drive the yogis insane . I definitely felt like I'd wandered into the wrong room by mistake!

Resurrecting this thread - can anyone recommend some good books about yoga? Not to learn the poses, more something about the history /philosophy behind the different styles of yoga? I want something accessible and fun to read ideally, to help me understand more about what I'm doing in class.

I started with the BBC website, it has a good intro section.

Sorry, I got confused. That's a good section about Buddhism. The yoga bit isn't that good. I read up on what I hear in class as I only want a general view for the time being. It's such a vast area.

Thanks I'll have a look anyway - any other websites worth a look that you know of?

Hi, I am away from home for a couple of weeks so can't get to my yoga class, can any of you recommend a good online 'class' I could use please? I guess asthanga, maybe vinyasa?

Try doyogawithme or eckhartyoga. IM also away from home so can't link better from my mobile.

Thank you, I'll check them out

Hi - would you still like some book recommendations? I just did a list and managed to lose it before posting, but will have another go if anyone wants some suggestions.

Yes please. I've searched some old yoga & related stuff posts on here and I liked your posts (but didn't know whether go 'revive' old threads to say so).

Thank you

My interests and style of practice have changed over the years but i think these are all really worth while, regardless of style of practice.

The Yoga Tradition (Georg Feuerstein) - covers everything you could ever need to know about yoga history and philosophy, including some of the original texts. Not a quick read.

Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness (Erich Schiffmann) - my all time favourite yoga book. He is just so lovely and the style so gentle. He talks a lot about learning to work the edge, which transformed my practice.

How Yoga Works (Geshe Michael Roach) - odd book. It is written as a novel and while it is not great literature it does explain the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali in a very accessible way (i don't actually agree with one of the threads of the book, that the tradition should never be changed, but that's a whole new thread). I learnt a lot from it.

Asana, Pranayama, Mudra and Bandha (Swami Satyananda Saraswati) - probably the best book on practice, but also a really good read.

Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice (Mark Singleton) - illustrates how much nonsense there is about lineage and the origins of many asanas. Really surprising stuff.

Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice (Ganga White) - i put off reading this for ages as it has a forward by Sting (not a fan!), but am glad i did - the approach completely resonated with me, and if you are interested in yoga philosophy as well as practice it is definitely worth a read.

There are many others i really like, but these are the ones that have really taught me something. Love the thread title btw!

Fantastic. Thank you so much. There's so much out there and I don't want to get bogged down in the minutiae of one style or another or one guru or another. I'll see what the big library nearby has. I think I'll start with the Erich Shiffman book. Thank you again. How long have you been doing yoga for? (You mention change over time.)