What is ‘good yoga’?

After having experienced many different types of yoga, and stopping yoga, and not being consistent about going to class, I’ve always liked it enough to go back and start again.

I think that’s ‘good yoga‘.  I also have heard several instructors say that good yoga is simply you doing your best to practice any pose, position or series.  I think that’s true, too.

How I got to do my yoga yesterday

The year before last I was being really regular about going to yoga class, but since my mum passed away last year my regularity had dropped and I had often found other things to do.  This week my girls are in summer camp so I have time and no excuses to go to yoga class at the nearby YMCA.

However, I haven’t been consistent so was worried about making myself really stiff and sore when I went.  So I chose option 2, a DVD at home yesterday, and was really pleased that I did!

I like to chant or listen to a chant before I start yoga, as a result of attending a great yoga school in Hanford, CA a few years ago when I lived there.  We learnt a chant and always used it at the beginning and end of the yoga class.  It was a great exercise to sense how much your body relaxes and feels different before and then after a class.

Oils, a chant and some comfy clothes

I rolled out my mat, put some Australian Blue Young Living Essential oil on my wrists and inhaled, and then played the Great Bell Chant on my computer, followed by the yoga class DVD.

Now also, I have to say I am not the most toned person around the middle, so do feel like I need to cover up some when I go to class.  This time I put on my (very comfortable) tight top and leggings, and it felt cool and good.

I also had some unexpected company, as my dog Pickle decided she’d like to attend class too!  Some of the later poses were somewhat difficult with a dog trying to lay across my head and neck, but to be polite she did wait until Shivasana (a relaxation pose usually performed at the end of class) to lick my toes!

Good yoga for the family

I also have fond memories of a yoga book that my dad bought one time.  He was a bit of a deep thinker and used to read Khalil Gibran (The Prophet) amongst others.  I remember that he also bought a yoga book, but didn’t do the poses.  However he’d read the poses out to my brother and I and we would try to do them, along with lots of giggling and laughter.  Who knows, maybe that’s what got me started.

Next up, kundalini yoga, which involves specific breathing exercises and movements to encourage energy movement up and down the spine.  I guess as long as I keep doing it, it’s good yoga.

Other yoga posts in this blog – a review of Shanti Generation’s DVD here.  Yoga as a way of staying present by Tracey Fritz, Yoga teacher and practitioner, here.

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