Why I Love Yoga

I love yoga, it is something that from February this year I picked it up again and I now go every day when I can.  I primarily go to Bikram Yoga, mainly at Bikram Highbury and Islington.  There are many more benefits than I am going to list here, but here are a few reasons why I love it.

1. Flexibility: Yoga has taught me a different way of stretching, I am beginning to open up my whole spine, and I am beginning to hinge a lot less through a few vertebrae meaning my stretching is becoming healthier.  It also stretches both sides, in the past although I have always worked both sides i have always worked one side far more, gymnastics training is so one sided and so i am a lot more developed on one side compared to the other, this is now beginning to even out a bit, again leading to healthier bending.  It is also nice when i have had a hard week just to give my body a gentler stretch, things like camel posture in the beginners series feel sooooooo good!  Also, believe it or not my hamstrings are actually quite tight, but through yoga they are lengthening.  I have also never before touched lateral hip rotation, I never realised how seriously lacking i am in this movement until i began yoga, i can not tell you how weird my hips currently feel as they begin to access movement previously unknown to them, and now I am stretching out those impossibly tight muscles then i am sure i will reap the benefits.  And lastly, however flexible you are there is always that bit further you can go, I have postures that elude me and one day I would like to be able to do them :-)  And also, it is not just about how bendy you are, it is about how the postures make you feel, all those lovely benefits you get from them :-)
    
   
   
2. Stength: I love Bikram Yoga for it's strengthening aspects.  In combination with my flexibiity work it keeps my body healthy and strong.  
   
   (Eagle on a snow ball. Photo from 2010 hence the wrong arm to leg, whoops!)
   
   
   Click the below link to read the rest of this post, it began to get a bit long :-)
3. Knees: There is a reason i love handstands so much.  I have had bad knees for about the past 18 years... a combination of hypermobile menisci which sublux/dislocate, chondromalacia, and inflamed fat pad which causes impingement.  I had arthroscopies/surgery on both knees January 2013.  I actually returned to yoga in February 2013 partly because of my knees.  Looking back I wish i hadn't lost my practice when i first moved to London in 2010 as it is so beneficial.  Bikram yoga is immense at strengthening all the muscles around the knee joint and addressing any imbalances, as well as stretching any tight muscles.  If my fat pads are playing up then locking my knee isn't so great but i deal with it.  I admit to still finding the standing series quite hard on my knees by the time i get to standing bow.  But my menisci have not subluxed/dislocated at all since i began yoga again/for the past 8 months, since when they do they make me cry and are mega painful to unlock/clunk back into place that is a good thing :-) 
   
   
   
   
   
4.  Diet and Skin: My skin has improved dramatically this year.  Likely as a result of hydrating more, and also a big diet change.  I used to eat absolute rubbish each day.  I look back at my old shopping receipts when one pops up in my receipts box and i am disgusted by the amount of rubbish I used to eat!  It was a bit of a gradual change but now I eat much healthier, I eat far more vegetables, and I am a massive fan of making green juices which contain green healthy things like kale.  I do still eat chocolate and sweeties, just not as much, like only half a pack of cookies in one go instead of the whole pack :-)  I have more energy, and clearer skin.  Oh and my nails have begun to grow at the speed of lightning!
   
   
   
5. Enjoyment: Yes I enjoy it.  Ok, me and awkward pose have a bit of a love hate relationship, and there are times i just want to be out in the cold air, but the more i am in the hot room the more i get a sense of serenity and calmness.  I enjoy this yoga so much, and when i finish class i feel amazing and happy.  Also, I am sure the little gymnasts I teach would say I am much nicer coach if I have come to teaching straight from a yoga session, than when i haven't.
6. Constant Journey: Every practice I learn something more, I feel it is like you never stop learning, my practice evolves each time.  I also feel like i have so much more to learn and that that is a wonderful thing :-)
7. Friends: I have met some absolutely awesome and lovely friends through the classes I go to :-)

And that is why I love yoga and why I go each day when I can :-)