Heather Nehl
My Yoga Experience
I began my yoga
experience through this class in a very similar way to Nick from Enlighten Up; I was reluctant and critical and
did not want to fall into a spiritual practice so I spent the entirety of my
practice thinking it through and analyzing critically. I was open to yoga being
a new work out, but less open about the other aspects of yoga. While I did grow
more comfortable with and knowledgeable about yoga, I certainly looked at my
experience with a critical eye. There are things I would do differently with my
practice, but I did learn from it and have grown in my yoga practice.
As an American, raised in
a non-religious home, I have a tendency to retract away from religious and
spiritual experiences. While I respect those who have their gods and practices,
I don't want any of it myself. I was interested in this experience as a regular
physical practice, a way to get fit and more in tune with my body and nothing
else. I used yoga at Stockton in the past as a way to calm down, but I didn't
look at my practice this semester in this way. I think I had a goal oriented
view of yoga, which certainly doesn't apply to spiritual experiences. In my first blog post I even
talked about how I liked Steevee not being a very spiritual instructor (a view
point that eventually does change after experiencing more physical). I think I
kept this mentality throughout my practice, and analyzed my practice more than
I typically would have if I had just joined a studio. Even in my later
posts I was looking at yoga through a physical practice lens, not really taking
into account the other aspects of yoga. Not one of my posts discusses my ideas
on community engagement, higher enlightened thinking, perfection-related goals,
etc. In this sense, my overall yoga practice was probably a bit lacking, but I
definitely came to a better understanding of the differences of the physical
practices. When I first started this class I had only a DVD and Steevee as a
regular practice, which were both Flow practices. I never did extensive
research into yoga and into the various styles. I enjoyed learning about the
practices and then doing them in class. Learning about the practices in this
way allowed for a deeper, more practical understanding of the differences
within yoga and how styles and purposes can vary so widely in a practice I tend
to think of as a singular practice. I learned how much a private or a group
class could make a difference in experience – reflecting that I surprisingly
like group classes better than solo classes. I learned that I like yoga to be a
blend of work out and self-reflection – as seen in my post about Sivananda
practice. I think this is a practice I would like to pursue because I felt in
tune with my body in this practice, like I was stopping and making healthy
oberservations throughout. This practice was also easiest for me to translate
to day-to-day life. Overall this experience has helped me feel more
knowledgable and also more assured in what I want from my practice.
If I could do anything differently with this class and
experience, I’d want to have invested more of myself into the experiences of
this class. When I first signed up, I wanted to go to yoga multiple times a
week and practice on my own as well. The idea of wasting a free semester of
classes was a motivator in that thought process but I also really wanted to
have a meaningful experience from frequent practice. I think I would be able to
monitor my progress more had I gone to yoga more often, experimented with a
wider array of classes and studios, and took the time to really practice hard.
I also think I could have invested myself in the alternative aspects of yoga –
not just the physical practice. Some of the dietary and life style practices,
such as the Ayurvedic Gunas really were interesting to me but I didn’t experiment
much with applying those practices. A large part of my yogic experience came
from my lack of investment in the karma project as well. The purpose of the
project was to really examine selflessness and to try it for ourselves, but I
kind of skirted around the project because it was inconvenient for me. The
karma project could have been a meaningful experience for me, had I made it
one. I think in this sense it was an unfortunate lack of time and ordering of
priorities that lead to this experience being less than it potentially could
have been. I may take this lesson in applying myself and do my own yoga experience
on my own time.
