Kyles blog

 For this weeks yoga, I wanted to pick a session that would focus on my lower back pain. This weeks has been extremely busy for me and as a result my lower back and hips have been really tight causing me discomfort. After searching for yogas geared towards helping to alleviate hip and back pain, I found a session titled “Yoga for hips and lower back release” with the instructor being none other than Adriene. I have done numerous sessions with Adrienc at this point and I know the asanas she puts us through will have me feeling loose by the end. We begin by focusing on the hamstrings as Adriene explained that tension/pain usually arises when the body is “out of whack” and we can correct it through yoga. The body is composed of many different parts that all have to work in unison in order for the body to function properly. Therefore if I have tension in my back, stretching and working on the parts that help the back function would in turn alleviate my back pain. I loved her explanatio...

 While practicing Ashtanga yoga with Andrew Eppler, I found that most of the positions he was asking us to perform were slightly out of my range of ability. While I enjoy pushing my body to its limits and seeing what I’m capable of, a majority of the positions were far beyond my capabilities. With that being said, there were numerous aspects of this yoga that I thoroughly enjoyed. The use of Sanskrit helped me realize the historical and cultural importance of yoga and how it directly affects Ashtanga yoga.  While many of the asanas were fairly difficult, I received the same feeling that was intended when I modified the asana to my abilities. I enjoyed our instructor and he seemed very enthusiastic and open to teaching/assistance when we asked for it. After completing the yoga I felt much more limber almost as if I was stretching out after an intense workout (which wasn’t far off from what the class was).    When discussing community, I feel like my practice space lac...

To date, I feel as though this type of yoga (Iyengar) has been the most physically demanding practice that I have done so far. While doing this Iyengar yoga, the instructor often reminded us about the benefits of our movements and how they affect us on a physiological level. I enjoyed these comparisons because I am an Exercise Science major and have confidence in my knowledge of the body. While difficult, I found the positions manageable and only had to modify one or two because my body was unable to move in the instructed way. One aspect of the Iyengar practice that stood out to me was the use of asanas and Sanskrit. The Sanskrit  (traditional language of the yogis/Indian culture) was a new experience for me and found it interesting to hear the connection between the word and the action. The asanas are one of the main aspects that set Iyengar yoga apart from other yogas. I enjoyed the standing asanas, especially the Tadasma which emphasized stretching of the shoulders. The final a...

 After reading the article by Klas Nevrin and discussing the concept of practice being a “ritual” in class, I decided to perform a yoga that included various different postures. After some looking, I decided on performing a yoga that focused on flexibility within the mind and body (with Adriene as the instructor). While practicing this yoga, I made sure to pay specific attention to the changes in nature, impact, and intensity and how it affected my practice. I felt that viewing my practice in these different aspects helped me to connect more with the yoga and had overall better intentions going in. We began with focusing our breathing followed by entering an extended child’s pose. While in this position, Adriene explained how the further you stretch your hands in front of you the more pressure is put on your shoulders. I also enjoyed the mountain pose where I was instructed to keep my feet grounded in order to gain the full feeling of my height in relation to the ground. I felt mor...

 For this week, I decided to stick with the same instructor as last week in a guided session by Adriene. Recently, I've been experiencing some moderate neck pain (from sleeping I assume) so I decided to try and find a session geared towards alleviating my pain. Sure enough, Adriene had a session for the purpose of relieving shoulder and neck pain though the practice of yoga. We begin in a upright seated position in order to allow the spine space to stretch and elongate itself  and want to make sure we focus on sitting up straight.  We begin the session as I found we usually do with this instructor, which is by first focusing on your own breathing in an effort to ground and focus yourself before beginning the yoga. From there, Adriene instructs us to enter a form of a cat pose where we focus on releasing the shoulder blades to wrap forward and hug the ribs in while tensing followed by relaxation. I enjoyed this pose because every time I took a breath in, my muscle felt as ...

 This yoga (Bikram) was taught to the class by Diana Polli and I conducted my practice at my house. My initial reaction to Bikram yoga was that it was more intense that I expected. We immediately began the yoga and I found it slightly hard to keep up with the oral instructions as I was unfamiliar in how the postures moved from one to another. After changing my view so that I could follow along as the class also demonstrated the posture, the class became much more enjoyable.  The beginning postures were mainly standing which I found to be quite strenuous and slightly more difficult than I could handle. With that being said, I still gave every position my best shot and found that a majority of them really helped to loosen up my muscles and help me feel better. Before long, I began to work up a sweat and also found myself having to take water breaks which is ironic considering this yoga is usually done in a heated room. My favorite of the different postures that we did from this ...