Personal Narrative: My Yoga Story

Yoga has been practiced over the years and continues to expand. Many are looking into practicing yoga, though it seems like the history of yoga has been forgotten. That is why I think it important for others to be informed about the history and its discipline of yoga. Being familiar with modern yoga, benefits that yoga brings and how it reduces stress is another way that will help others have a better sense and understanding of yoga. Therefore, readers that are informed of the history, studies in religion, anthropology and the disciplines of yoga will enhance a better understanding. Which I believe it is a great way for readers to gain knowledge and be informed of what yoga brings out. After being informed perhaps experiencing yoga for the first time, might also help on what yoga does to the body and

Of the many techniques people use to reduce stress, yoga is among one of the more popular. Although some may believe that effects of yoga are merely physical, there is research that suggests that yoga has direct impacts on one’s mental state. According to Forbes, in addition to the benefits on the heart and blood flow, yoga helps release dopamine and gaba and serotonin (Walton, 2012). All of these are known to create feeling of happiness in a person (K. W. Brown, personal communication, Sept. 7). For this lab, I decided I would try yoga for myself to test the results.

Yoga has been shown to be effective as an adjunctive treatment for a wide variety of disorders, including epilepsy, diabetes, heart disease, insomnia, and chronic pain (Streeter et al., 2012; van der Kolk, 2014). Streeter et al. (2012) propose that yoga is helpful in such a wide variety of conditions because it reduces allostatic load in the stress response symptom, decreases sympathetic nervous system activity, increases parasympathetic nervous system activity, and increases gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA) levels. Overall, yoga is a practice that may help the body return to a more optimal state of

For a year or more I felt somewhat absent, solidifying a sense of uncertainty and fear in my psyche. I blamed my susceptibility to broken bones but deep down I knew it was because yoga was missing from my life.

Muralidoraiswamy, P. “Yoga on Our Minds: A Systematic Review of Yoga for Neuropsychiatric Disorder.” Shirleytelle Frontiers in Psychiatry, Jan. 2013. This article focuses on the physiological aspect of a yoga class. It essentially explains what happens in a person’s brain after going through a hatha yoga class. This study also talks about yoga as a long-term mental health solution, since typically yoga is a life-style. Overall, the study provides a scientific look at more personal experiences.

So how can one make it through these physical obstacles and come out on the other side? We need a strong physical and mental base to guide us through the physical pain. This is what a yoga practice brings to our healing as we strengthen our body through the strengthening of our mind and vice versa. The authors highlight this with an insightful quote

It was about four months ago that I decided to enroll in the training of becoming certified yoga teacher myself. Throughout my mom’s journey, she was opened up to new ways of health and wellness, and found her greatest healing through yoga and meditation. She was able to heal and transform herself from the inside-out. My hope is to be able to give to others what was given to my mom thirteen years ago.

We all know that Yoga's benefits are supposed to be huge. But, how many of you have tried it and not experienced the benefits for yourself? It can be more stressful than stress relieving sometimes, and it can have other negative effects on the body that are totally unwanted, like pain, which is why we wanted to do a Her Yoga Secrets review. The author says that she can help you finally experience all the benefits you want from Yoga with a few secrets. But does she really know something that you haven't already heard? Is this really something that will make yoga a life-changing exercise? Let's take a closer look.

This semester my primary goals were to eat healthier and to maintain my 6 mile run time. My two goals required a lot of dedication and the body works class has helped me stay focus on my goals throughout the entire semester. Having body work class on Mondays helps me get my week started with a good workout, secondly having this class in general works as a reminder that being healthy and active is an everyday challenge that truly pays off in the long run.

Deemed the “land of opportunity,” by those who emigrated to America, it is only natural that as our country grew, so to would the development of new concepts, introduction of new practices, and influence from outside nations. While it may not be common knowledge, the concept, and practice, of yoga was introduced to the United States just over 100 years after the Declaration of Independence

I have always been physically active and I have participated in many sports and athletic activities and programs throughout my life. However, one thing that I have never considered to improve my fitness was just going out for a walk! Engaging in walking activity has improved so many areas of my life. I have become more health conscience and through this new perspective I have begun to make better fitness decisions that are helping me live a happier, healthier life. I first noticed a change in my fitness level when I was at soccer summer camp. At the camp, we had to run a mile around the field. I remember how last summer I had been really out of shape and I had struggled to run the course. However, this summer, because of my keeping up with my walking program

A bit about you- maybe you have a party trick, maybe you studied something random at uni, maybe you are passionate about saving dogs or watching Home and Away- this is the time to reveal all!

For the past two months, starting on March 1st, I have aimed to improve my physical wellness. Fitness has always been my weakest aspect of wellness, and I knew it needed to change, which is why I set two primary goals for myself, one involving physical activity and the other related to my sleep habits. I aimed to go on a hike, practice yoga, and do one other exercise routine, each once a week, and get to bed by 10pm nightly. Hiking has always been a passion of mine, I had been wanting to start doing yoga, and in the past I’ve struggled with poor sleep habits which were detrimental to my health, which was how I decided on each of my goals. In a checklist, I wrote that I would buy exercise materials, go to my doctor, and take a hike that was

The benefits of Yoga are endless. It effects the human mind and body in a variety of ways. Roughly 15 million Americans practice yoga, annually there is an expected increase of twenty percent in participants in the United States ("Yoga Statistics"). While Yoga is often thought of as a practice that involves circus like poses and seemingly impossible flexibility; it not. Even bedridden patients can gain benefit from imagining themselves going through the poses and practicing breathing techniques that are appropriate to them (Dickenson 24-25). Yoga is not something that you do at the studio and leave behind. It becomes a way of life; leading to healthier habits, improving psychological health, and encouraging spiritual growth. An article on

My yoga journey started more than ten years ago with an intense and dedicated interest in learning yoga postures from Ashtanga, Hatha, Jivamukti, etc. In the beginning I practised most days of the week and imagined that I would never tire, in spite of long trips to the studio in the early hours of the morning. A pleasant reward was that my blood pressure dropped back to normal and I could stop taking medicines. So, from the start, I knew that yoga could provide health benefits as well as an enormous feeling of wellbeing. No matter how tired and fed-up one felt at the beginning of a session, the mental lift afterwards was deeply satisfying. Meditation, Savasana, or corpse posture, wound up every session so it also became clear that postures or asanas were only part of the remedy. Meditation and yoga practise from the very beginning fired my interest in searching for an inner consciousness. This is an easily misunderstood word and means many different things to many different people. Some will associate it with awareness, or mindfulness