INSPIRATION FRIDAY – I FOUND YOGA

I sought out Yoga initially to reduce my stress and more importantly to learn relaxation techniques. Now after nearly a year of attending classes once a week the experience has proven so beneficial I wonder why I didn’t start sooner.

As an Arabian horse breeder for forty years and now a writer I continually enjoy and observe the people in my life and around me. I watch this new wave of disconnect where people interactive more with their phones than with the people around them. I’m not at all against social media but I cant help wondering where we’re all heading.

I happened to mention this to Greg Cawley’s son recently and he quoted his  Yoga instructor father. “Are the people outside the room more important than the people inside the room?” I couldn’t resit using sharing the quote and a slightly tweaked version. I hope Greg forgives me for changing the quote to encompass life. I felt they were powerful words when we consider the world we live in these days.

Several years ago, life dealt me a few issues that I struggled to cope with.  I knew I wasn’t coping and I kept searching for something that could help me. I was already taking medication for an autoimmune condition so I truly didn’t want to add to this list.

Enter Yoga – Imagine an activity that increases your flexibility, strengthens muscles, centers your thoughts, to relax and calm you. Yoga is doing all this for me and more! I also found the people who attend my class are kindred spirits, like minded and full of support and encouragement.

here I should explain a little about Yoga though I’m no expert. Yoga uses controlled breathing as a way to merge the mind, body, and spirit. The breathing techniques are called pranayamas; prana means energy or life force, and yama means social ethics. It is believed that the controlled breathing of pranayamas will control the energy flow in your body. This controlled breathing certainly helps me focus on the muscles that are working. I know during our final relaxation in class it calms my mind, and leads to a deep, inner calm and sense of relaxation.

The Purpose of Yoga … The original context of yoga was spiritual development practices to train the body and mind to self observe and become aware of their own nature. The purposes of yoga were to cultivate discernment, awareness, self-regulation and higher consciousness in the individual.The researchers found that yoga outperformed aerobic exercise at improving balance, flexibility, strength, pain levels among seniors, menopausal symptoms, daily energy level, and social and occupation functioning, among other health parameters. Yoga does more than calm you down and make you flexible.
Yoga cultivates health and well being (physical, emotional, mental and social) through the regular practice of a range of many different techniques, including postures and movement, breath awareness and breathing exercises, relaxation and concentration, self-inquiry and meditation.

A huge thank you to my Yoga instructor Chris (you’re fabulous) at YOGA WITH LESLEIGH in The Bernoth Centre Toowoomba – lesyoga@icr.com.au

Quote from Greg Cawley Brik Man Yoga Toowoomba – Phone or text Mr Cawley on 0435 755 033 for more details.