I’ve been practicing yoga regularly for 3 years now and it has been an evolving and life changing journey. My first yoga experience was over 6 years ago and I must say I didn’t like it, I thought it was too slow for me. To give you some background about my physical regimen at the time, I didn’t like to workout. I still don’t but I’ve found some physical activities that I enjoy and I’ve stuck with them, I’ll discuss this more on another blog. I later tried another yoga class at an LA Fitness location in Miami and felt the same way so I decided to write yoga out and stick with Pilates.
My relationship with yoga changed
However, this all changed after I moved to the Washington DC area 3 years ago and a friend told me about a yoga class at a private studio, I loved it. I also realized that my relationship with yoga changed at a time in my life when I was going through lots of changes, I had moved to a new state, getting over a romantic relationship not working out, looking for work, and being away from family and friends for the first time. As they say, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. From then on yoga and I became great friends and I thought I had found the type of yoga that truly resonated with me, which was Vinyasa. While I knew and cared about the physical side and benefits of it, the spiritual side of yoga is what drew me to it. I also used my yoga class for me to get more still in my meditation. At some point, I decided that I would do a yoga teacher training in the future and it would be Vinyasa but all that changed when I discovered and fell in love with Kundalini yoga.
Exploring kundalini yoga and its effects on my thyroid condition
Kundalini yoga also called the yoga of awareness is a meditative type of yoga that involves holding poses much longer than other types of yoga classes, eyes are closed for most poses, and it has longer meditation periods. It works directly on the endocrine system, which is perfect for me as I was diagnosed with a thyroid condition many years ago and the meds I was on before hadn’t worked for me and I’ve been looking for natural alternatives.
I first got curious about Kundalini yoga when I kept seeing Author/Life Coach/Spiritual Speaker, Gabrielle Bernstein share pictures of her and her audience doing kundalini yoga during her lectures/workshops or she would share some quotes by Yogi Bhajan (he introduced kundalini yoga to America). It looked different, so one day I asked a friend who is a yoga teacher about a place around me where they teach it as Kundalini yoga isn’t thought in many places in DC. From my first class up to now, I’ve been enjoying this transformative and challenging type of yoga. Kundalini yoga is empowering me to face my challenges, open my heart, and have the courage to live my best life. Holding those poses for a long time teaches me to not run when life gets tough and uncomfortable like I’ve done in the past as one of my yoga teachers reminds us all the time “there is always work involved in growth and transformation”. I recently told a friend that I now believe that when I’m going through a tough and painful period in my life, I am growing and my heart wants to expand to love more.
What I get from yoga
On my yoga mat I get the skills to use off the mat to empower myself and then empower others; this is very important for me as a Life Coach and someone whose purpose is to empower others. A few years ago, I would have walked in a kundalini yoga class and would have walked out a the end and not gone back as I wasn’t ready for it. In order words, I wasn’t ready to face many of life’s challenges but now I am and again when the student is ready the teacher appears; which sums up my relationship with yoga.
All types of yoga are transformative and everyone can benefit from practicing yoga. Just like everything as long as we are open and willing, we will get what we come for and more on the mat. I would advise anyone who is interested in yoga to try different types as you may find like many yogis that there is one that resonates more with you.
Please share your feedback, questions, and yoga journey with me, thanks!
Love and light!
Nadjejda