om body
The worst
yogi in the
world
I
have just come in from my garden, having actually managed
20 minutes of yoga. This is actually quite good for me.
Although we yogis are meant to spend hours connecting to
the divine, I just don’t seem to be able to manage it anymore!
A very good friend dragged me along to my first yoga
class five years ago. The discipline, the poses and the breathing got
me hooked immediately. The class specialised in ashtanga which,
among many other elements, is a cleverly constructed sequence
of poses. Yogis are encouraged to focus on their breathing (ujjayi
breathing, or ‘breath of fire’) and their bandhas (a series of internal
energy gates which are regulated during the practice).
The married couple who run the studio welcome everyone into
the ‘family’ and this atmosphere, as well as the classes, was a
huge draw. I was hooked. I attended classes three times a week
and practiced at home too. Ashtanga does succeed in making you
incredibly fit, incredibly quickly. I found I could swim for hours while
on holiday.
However, life, as it has a habit of doing, got in the way. I made
the decision three years ago to go from part time teaching to full
time teaching...and how my yoga suffered as a result. I have put on
weight, cannot walk or swim for long distances and attend classesonly sporadically. I lost one yoga mat when I left it at a class and
my other one sits rolled up in a corner gathering dust. I have
become the worst yogi in the world.
And yet...such is the spell cast by this practice (it is not exercise,
my yoga teacher had told me many times!) that I sometimes
physically crave doing yoga. I long to hang upside down in
downward facing dog and stretch every inch of me from my
fingertips to the ends of my toes.
So, I force myself to make time. One ardent yogi once told me
that any time on the mat is time well spent and I am inclined to
agree. Having just done 20 minutes I feel like a different person.
I have, by getting into different poses, had the chance to literally
look at the world in a different way and from a different angle.
The other advantage is the meditation at the end of the practice.
The yogis of old used the asanas (poses) as a way of purifying
their bodies so that they were ready to meditate. There is also
something incredibly satisfying about having a little rest after you
have sweated and laboured during your practice.
Maybe, after all, I am not the world’s worst yogi. I may not have
two-and-a-half hours a day to spare but I do have some precious
moments where I can breathe, stretch and meditate. Namaste.It doesn’t matter how long you
practice, says Lucy Cooney, just make
sure you get on that mat