Yoga ~ What's the Secret Ingredient That Makes Me Feel So Darn Good?

Yoga, the Moon & Me: One yogi's musings on travel, spirituality, the moon and life!

Yoga ~ What’s the secret ingredient that makes me feel so darn GOOD!

(and why is it better than any other exercise)

I’m always amazed by the beautiful feeling one is left with following a yoga practice. While I love the feeling after a long run or an intense HIIT Class, the afterglow of a yoga class is…more. Depending on the type of class you choose you might feel the physical burn but the focused breathwork infused into the movement, the balancing of chakras by way of strategic postures leaves you feeling relaxed, calm and centered.

Before I became a yogi, I was a runner. I would run almost everyday. I ran to save my life. Or in hindsight was I running from my life? The more stress I had and the bigger I felt my problems were getting, well I would just run more. Faster, longer, harder.

There never seemed to be a long enough road to solve my problems. I just physically exhausted my body so I could forget or at the very least be distracted by the pain for a while.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED running but it wasn’t helping me to unpack the source of my stressors. Each morning they would be back again.

Then I started taking a yoga class..just once a week at our local community centre and it was a game changer for me. I felt mentally and emotionally calm and relaxed and my body felt strangely energized and strong…not beaten to a pulp. I felt balanced.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was balancing my chakras or enabling the flow of my energy . I was working through emotional and energetic blockages one twist and downward facing dog at a time. Funny how one class changed the trajectory of my whole life.

Oh I kept running for many years after that, but implementing yoga into my daily routine too. In time, the yoga became more and the running became less until I realized I no longer needed to run to save my life. The problems that I tried to run through, or maybe away from were no longer there. I was…good. “I” am good thanks to my yoga lifestyle.

So What is Yoga Exactly?

Well you know I love a good definition so I took this one from Yogapedia…

Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in ancient India. Patanjali is known as the father of yoga. It isn’t actually known if he was one person or a group of people who gathered and wrote down the teachings of yoga in the Yoga Sutras around 400 C.E.

(If you are wondering C.E. stands for Common Era ~ a method of numbering years or period of time that began after the birth of Jesus Christ.)

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning “to yoke,” or “to unite”. The practice aims to create union between body, mind and spirit, as well as between the individual self and universal consciousness. Such a union tends to neutralize ego-driven thoughts and behaviours, creating a sense of spiritual awakening.

Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years, and while many different interpretations and styles have been developed, most tend to agree that the ultimate goal of yoga is to achieve liberation from suffering. Although each school or tradition of yoga has its own emphasis and practices, most focus on bringing together body, mind and breath as a means of altering energy or shifting consciousness.

The journey of a yogi is known as Patanjali’s 8 Fold Path. There are 8 Limbs to yoga so right away we see that it is more than just an exercise. It is a philosophy and a way of life. Each limb is equally as important as the other. We won’t do a deep dive into all of them today (that is for sure another podcast or two) but I will list them so you have a general understanding of what they are:

1. Yamas ~ universal moral principles
2. Niyamas ~ the practice of personal discipline or inner observances
3. Asanas ~ the physical postures
4. Pranayama ~ the practice of breath control or breathing exercises
5. Pratyahara ~ controlling the senses, also withdrawing from the senses
6. Dharana ~ concentration
7. Dhyana ~ meditation
8. Sumadhi ~ enlightenment (the dissolution between subject and object)

That’s pretty deep. So if Yoga is the union of mind, body and spirit. Let’s break it down

Yoga for the Body

I think in this day and age you’d have to be living under a rock to NOT have heard about yoga.. I have had many newbies come into my class only to shift into a perfect downward facing dog because they have literally seen that pose everywhere. In newspapers, magazines, on the internet… In the western world, yoga is often stereotyped as beautiful people doing impossible body contortions in lulu lemon pants…that look perfect. I’m here to tell you…that’s just not true. Yoga is so much more.

Oftentimes we come to yoga for the physical aspect ~ that third limb ~ the asanas or postures. But reminder, each posture is just as important as the others.

There are many different types of asana yoga all with a slightly different focus; maybe a hot room, maybe longer holds or just 12 postures but the roots are all the same ~ move the body in a series of postures to find balance in the mind, body and spirit by way of balancing the chakras.

Ahhh there’s that word again. What is a chakra? This is a sanskrit word referring to wheels of energy.

In Yoga, we speak of the Seven Major Chakras that are located along the spine. (starting at the tailbone and ending at the crown of your head) The Chakras connect your physical body to your energetic bodies (auras) and in turn distribute energy throughout your physical and non-physical self.

When your energy is flowing as it should, (meaning, when your chakras are balanced and free flowing) you feel lovely, happy, and peaceful. When your energy (or chakras) becomes blocked or flows in the opposite direction from its normal pattern, you can become agitated, angry, sad, aggressive, jealous...you get where I’m going with this.

In order to live your best life, it is important to keep your energy flowing and balanced. And in order to do this you must balance the flow of your energy and that is done by having balanced chakras…and one of the BEST ways to do this is to add the physical practice of yoga into your life.

Yoga for the Mind

It is easy to understand the physical practice of yoga…it looks like an exercise. It makes the body strong, toned and flexible..feels transactional…work hard and your end result is a better body. So what does it do for your mind? And how honestly can you measure these results?

Go back to the beginning. Yoga is the union of mind, body and spirit. So the practice affects all of those aspects of your being.

As I mentioned earlier, most people come to yoga for the physical. It is something that can be seen and understood. It tends to be what the western world focuses on most. And honestly, that’s okay. Because once you hit the mat, you begin to notice how amazing you feel. And the feel goes beyond the body.

When we practice the asanas, we infuse the 4th limb (also known as pranayama or breath control) into our practice. One movement, one breath. For example, when we are drawing our shoulders b...