It's YOGA!

It’s the time! It’s the time to talk about this. This life-changing decision… The decision that will accompany me through my whole life (for sure).  It’s YOGA.

Last summer when I was on vacation, I decided to start a new thing. Something that keep my mind busy when I don’t want to think about my study and make me relax when I am worried  and of course something that will increase the quality of my life but I should admit, I’ve never imagined that it would change my life this much.

I wanted to write about this for a long time but first I needed to figure out what exactly happened to me and I got a new look about my life.

I will start from the beginning. We all know the new sport trend. It is YOGA. Nowadays everybody is talking about it. You see in the movies, on tv. Even some football players are doing yoga to keep their shape, to relax, to be more flexible and more balanced. So it is impossible not to be curious about, right? As I was trying to have a healthy life by regularly going to gym and eating carefully, I decided to add this new sport trend in my training program . When I first started I wasn’t seeing yoga as meditation to my mind and to my body but just a new type of exercise to make me have a strong and fit body. Cause let’s admit, we love fitness but isn’t that weight lifting sometimes boring and don’t we sometimes think what is the point of running if you are still at the very same spot?

According to the my aim, Vinyasa (Flow) Yoga was the best option for me as it is in high tempo, it is a kind of the dance of the breathe and the posture therefore every posture is in a flow etc. etc. Fortunately my husband’s cousin recommended a yoga studio (Never do a yoga lesson in the gym, try to find a studio where everybody comes with the same idea: “it is about exploring yourself”. But we will talk about this later.). The first lesson on the mat was so shockingly(!) difficult and I realized that I’d never sweated that much in my whole life. At some point, the mat became so slippery because of my sweat that I’d nearly flipped on the mat. At the end of the lesson I was very happy that I have found my yoga style. This will make me lose calories like the way I lose in the gym. Yeay!!!

The first 2-3 lessons, I’d hardly listened the meditative monologs by the instructors and mostly focused on my own thoughts and inner voice like the way I did in the gym. However a realization moment  has come. If I didn’t focus on my breath and listen to my body, I could not go any further with postures and there will be no improvement on my body or on my mind. This realization became with the instructors of course. They really helped me to see yoga as a way of spending time with yourself, the importance of presence as a time and as a being. To focus on breath and to leave everything behind but at the same time to be aware of everything too. Then my view got started to change. Now when I am on my mat, I leave every worry, every thought behind me and try to really live the moment with myself.

• How many hours do you really spend time with yourself and focus on yourself to discover your edges, your capabilities?
•   How many times do you do something for yourself and for your body? Not to be look beautiful to others but to yourself (especially to your inner self). 
• How many times do you really live in the moment and not thinking about the future or the past not even for a second?
•  How many times do you really sit and think about how important is breathe and do some breathing exercises to open your mind? (if you do breathing exercises you pomp more oxygen to your heart and to your brain and that will clear your mind, ease your stress and make you think more rationally.)

Even these few questions can (hopefully) change your view about life and if you go deeper you realize how precious is our time and how we spend it with lots worries, stress, calculations, relationships but not with ourselves.

I know at first it seems so ridiculous and even selfish but spending time with yourself does not mean you don’t care about people. On the contrary, if you want to care about people you have to first care about yourself. A happy soul will give more happiness and love to the others than a stressful, worried and sad soul.

Think about it and start to do yoga! Today! 

Namaste :)