Yoga – How good it does!

It was shortly after I moved to Shanghai that I was introduced to yoga. I had heard about Yoga before during my time in Germany and had a friend who was teaching yoga. However, it felt like being something too esoteric for me, too unreal for a German engineer. Later, when arriving in Asia it appeared to be the right time to explore further what yoga is.

There were two major reasons why I started with yoga. Firstly, I was looking for a physical exercise in Shanghai as a balance for sitting too much in an office. I always have done physical exercises in my life and I didn’t feel well the first weeks without a regular physical activity. Secondly, I had a stressful year or two behind me and a challenging job in a new environment ahead, so that I felt I need something to balance my mind and to be effective to relax, something I can use to disconnect my mind from work or any kind of stress and unhappiness.

My first yoga class gave me much more than I expected. I remember that I was walking to the studio and reacted quite emotionally on any car crossing my way when I tried to cross the street at a zebra crossing. I felt angry and an urge to kick the car or to do something else to release my tension. In that first yoga class I was lucky to have a teacher who spent 30 min with just letting us breathe, lying, sitting and standing, experiencing different areas of the body we breathe into, while counting the length of each inhale and exhale. Sun salutations with the rhythm of the breath were following, and a few basic standing poses and a relaxation pose were completing the class. I felt very relaxed! When I was walking home I encountered again the situation of crossing cars at zebra crossings as on my way to the studio. But surprisingly for me I just stepped back and let the car pass, indifferent and accepting the situation, without any emotions. Wow, what an effect of the yoga class to my mental state! This was an unexpected and intensive experience which gave me the confirmation that I found the right thing and that I want to continue with it.

In the following years I was fortunate to meet a number of very good teachers who inspired me and guided me through different aspects of yoga. I was taught very early in the importance of breath and the value of focussing on fundamental basics rather than approaching fancy postures. Later I was introduced in more detail to the aspects and benefits of pranayama (breathing practice) and to the therapeutic approach of yoga. But the maybe most important result for me has been the start of a journey into myself, towards what I am.

Besides learning about asanas – the physical practice on the mat -, I increasingly became interested in the philosophy behind yoga. I discovered how I could transfer my experiences made during the physical practice on the mat into my life outside the mat. Both studies of the asanas, pranayama and the philosophy helped me to raise my awareness for myself, my body, my thoughts, my emotions, and my actions. I learned to put myself into an observing mode in order to become aware of myself from outside. How much I could learn about me by that!

Selected literature – see reading list – helped me to understand better what I could observe and experience inside me. I became more aware why I have done things I have done, what has been triggering certain emotions and actions and how to influence or control them. I started to become more aware of my environment, how people behave and interact and what could be the cause for that. Both together have helped me to understand better the interaction between my environment and me. And I got a better understanding of what is really important for me and what I want in my life.

The consequences of increasing awareness and understanding have been tremendous and are described in other posts before: Life-Work Balance. I decided to change my life and have started to design and live a life full of happiness and love. I made conscious choices based on my needs and not based on other’s expectations. And I think I have never felt happier and more in peace with myself and my environment before than I do now!

My yoga practice has since long become something different than in the beginning. It has more and more evolved into a spiritual practice where asanas and pranayama are tools to help me to proceed on my journey. Practicing and experiencing has helped me to increase awareness and to get light into my life. I can feel daily the benefits of my practice and I’m excited of my experiences and my life, sometimes impatiently waiting what is coming next. In these moments I hold in for a moment and remember that life happens in the now not in the future. But this is another topic I’ll address in a different post soon…

When I started with yoga in form of asanas, someone told me: “If you practice yoga 1 or 2 times per week, your situation will stabilize without changes to the worth or the better. If you practice 3 or 4 times per week, clear changes will become quickly apparent. If you practice, 5 or more times a week, your whole life will change.” How true this statement has been proven to be in my case…!

Have you tried yoga yet? What are you waiting for? Don’t be afraid of the potential positive consequences 😉

Have a wonderful day, have an enjoyable happy life!

Volker