Ashtonga Yoga - 6 Months later
I have been practicing Ashtanga Yoga since July. Â I took about two months off from it due to professional commitments, but have now gone every week for about two months, possibly more. Â I still have so much to learn about this form of exercise, but I have already greatly improved in flexibility, strength, and endurance.
Strength in yoga practice is different than body building strength. Â In yoga, strength is built by holding your body in varios poses. Â The repetition of these poses slowly strengthens the muscles involved. I find that the muscles I’m strengthening through Ashtanga practice are mostly muscles that I hardly use. Â I’m sure that’s partly because I have a desk job, but also because the yoga poses bring these rarely used muscles to your attention. Â I have seen people in the class perform movements and motions that require incredible strength, flexibility, and control. Â These movements are hard to describe without pictures. Â Maybe I will post some references to specific poses later on.
What I really enjoy about Ashtanga is that flexibility and strength training go hand in hand. Â Through the exercises you can strengthen your back but also make it easier for you to bend your back to tie your shoes, pick up the paper, etc. Â I was a runner in middle and high school, so I stayed limber through daily stretching. Â This stretching was haphazard when compared to yoga. Â I did enough to loosen up, but never enough to dramatically increase my flexibility. Â Yoga has given discipline to a part of exercise that I formerly considered the equivalent of parsely the side of a porterhouse steak. Â Just there for decoration.
I would highly recommend yoga to anyone interested in increasing their strength and flexibility, not to mention relieving a bit of stress while you’re at it.