It’s common in January for existing students (and new students alike) to commit to making yoga regular part of their lives in the New Year. While some of the items in our list below are obvious, others might not be. Do you plan to make a habit of regular visits to Samatva Yoga in 2016? We hope so!
1) DETOX:
The heated room helps you to stretch more and get your cardio, but it also helps you sweat. The postures themselves are detoxifying for your muscles, organs, and glands and sweating furthers that. Please don’t forget that you need to do the work, being in the hot room is not enough alone!!! 🙂
2) INCREASED STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY:
1) Balance 2) Strength and 3) Flexibility. It’s often the case that students are strong in one area and have room for improvement in others. With a regular practice, stronger students become more flexible, those without much balance see increased strength and already bendy yogis are able to focus on improving balance. But, after you are on the mat, is that all you will get? HECK NO!!! Yoga is so much more! What if we told you, “You don’t DO yoga you BE yoga?” HMMMMMmmmmmmm……
3) CONNECTION:
While many people turn to yoga to reduce stress, an equal number go to yoga class in order to experience a greater sense of connection – with themselves and with each other. We come in to class feeling separate, disconnected, even resentful (Why did she put her mat so close to mine?). We leave smiling, warmed by each other (Hope I see her again next week!). Why? According to research, yoga may increase feelings of social connection in several key ways.
- Yoga enhances body systems related to social connection
- Synchronized movement creates bonding.
- Presence increases connection.
What does this have to do with yoga? For one, there’s a growing body of research showing that yoga improves vagal tone. Loving-kindness meditation (in which you actively send good wishes to yourself and others) has been shown to improve both vagal tone and feelings of social connection. Bottom line? From a physiological perspective, yoga may increase feelings of bonding because it improves vagal tone.
Visit http://kripalu.org/blog/thrive/2014/01/28/why-yoga-increases-feelings-of-connection/ to read full article.
4) DEAL WITH REAL LIFE ISSUES MORE CALMLY:
Take a step away from your expectations & judgements and just simply arrive. Practice asks you to show up…..all of you, your good and your not so awesome. This means that it will reveal to you all the stuff that keeps you small and prevents you from stepping into a place of transformation.
Each time we discover a “weakness” (whatever this shows up to be for you today), it allows you to breathe into it, as pure sensation, emotion, thought and experience. Over time, your revealed weakness can become a new strength.
Off the mat, we can take a breath and respond in a way that will clearly create a life made consciously. We learn that there is cause and effect for all we do and that ultimately, our choices do not just effect only ourselves, but we are then responsible for something greater and our contribution matters.
5) LOOK BETTER NAKED:
What???? Yep that’s right. We learn self-acceptance. And we are beautiful in all of our uniqueness. We feel better, and thus we see ourselves better.
Sure we can change physically, but more, we deepen our connection to who we truly see ourselves as, beyond all the judegments and socital/cultural pressures.
When we learn to connect to the love within us, we radiate this beauty outward………
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