Yoga IS Therapy

Brittany Bowman
Aug 13, 2016
3 min read

Aloha,

How can an activity be so uplifting & calming at the same time? Yoga is therapy for my mind, my body & my soul. I do not know what it is but there is something very therapeutic about rolling out my mat, feeling the mat beneath my feet & getting into the first position to start my yoga practice. It has been a very long time since I have come back to yoga. I have always found other reasons to flake on it which is dumb. For an activity to provide so much calming, healing & strength, it is pure neglect to not practice.

I have been avoiding any exercise while I start on this AIP journey because of what I have read. The first part of this lifestyle is the hardest on our body & our minds. There are so many changes happening mentally & physically with this lifestyle in the beginning that we can feel very unbalanced. I know first hand how true that is. So in an effort to feel better, I was trying not to overwhelm my body anymore than necessary. I told myself when I start feeling better, I will try to tackle exercise again. I know it is still early but I felt too good today not to throw in a little bit of yoga. I didn't do a whole routine. I just did some light stretches & a few sun salutations to warm my muscles up a bit. I then ended with a small cool down stretch, releasing any joints & major muscles I used.

One thing about getting back into any physical activity is, it shows you how out of shape you really are. Certain poses that use to be no problem for me, I was wobbling, shaking & almost falling over. I could feel how tight my hamstrings & hip flexors have become. I realize my range of motion has shortened & my transition from Chaturanga to updog is weak. I had to do cobra instead. These are just notations to myself so I can track my progress in the next coming weeks. It is eye-opening when poses I use to be strong in can hardly hold me anymore.

The thing I was most happy about today's practice is how centered my body felt. It was like my spine and the rest of my body were coming back into alignment. Maybe it is just a mental thing but I can feel my poster is slightly straighter & my spine is more elongated. In the beginning, as I was warming up with my ujjayi breath, I could feel my mind relax. As I said, very therapeutic. I've never been able to do any hard moves & have only done a hand stand twice with the help of the wall. I can see how much improvement needs to be done on the core poses but I am looking forward to developing into much harder poses. Maybe Crow Pose? Or Standing Split? That one has always been my favorite when executed properly. I've never done it personally but seeing someone who knows how to do it & is flexible enough to move straight up & down - it looks so elegant. Also, Side Crane has always been one I've wanted to work up to. I could probably fill up this whole page and then some with the poses I want to master. In due time!

What are some of your favorite poses? What do you love most about yoga? Have you ever gone a period without doing yoga before jumping back into it? How did you feel?

Mahalo,