How 10 months and 3 hours of yoga changed me

I started yoga as a workout exercise. It quickly turned in to something else. Something magical.

I’ve been sporadically engaged in physical activities all my life. In my youth I played football and hockey, while most recent years have been embossed by long distance running and climbing. About 10 months ago I found the disciplin of yoga.

Evolving from a physical activity to a spiritual practice

When I first started yoga I had a pretty clear idea on what it was. It combined spectacular physical activities with meditation. Simple enough, right? While I guess you could claim that explanation to be true, what yoga means to me has come to change over the past six months.

Im not gonna lie. The physical aspect is more than just a bonus for me. Results came quickly and today my body, as a single unit, is stronger and more flexible than ever before. It feels great, and I’m eager to push it further.

What surprised me was how the mental and spiritual aspects would present itself. Not long after noticing my physical results, I started leaving the yoga classes with a big smile on my faced combined with a strong feeling of gratefulness. Sometimes I ended up laughing uncontrollably in my shower. Sometimes I ended up crying. It started to get emotional, for sure.

‎”Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are.”
~ Jason Crandell

Today, my practice has come to be primarily about evolving and growing as a person in the societies and communities I participate in. For people around me it means smiling more and just being happy and helpful whenever I get a chance. For myself it often boils down to being present, not contemplating about the past or worrying to much about the future. It also means acceptance, and not dwelling over things that didn’t turn out the way I wanted.

I’m grateful for the progress I have made so far and equally exited about what the practice is going to teach me next.

Breaking new grounds and reaching deeper in to the unknowns of myself

Less than 24 hors previous to writing this blog post I broke new ground with my yoga practice. I attending a three hour long YogaFlow MasterClass together with 51 other yogis from the Gothenburg community led by one of my favorite teachers, Kitty Strand. I was nervous, but more so exited.

The setup was beautiful. A room so crowded there was only a few centimeters between my mat and my neighbours mat in all four directions. Burning candles provided a pleasant, dimmed light while incense sticks wrapped up the setting together with harmonic music. Waiting for the class to start we all prepared in our own ways, eager of the journey which we were about to enter together.

“I like the physical part, but I’m also drawn to the spiritual. For me, yoga is not just a workout — it’s about working on yourself.”
~ Mary Glover

For the first 90 minutes I think most attendees had experiences similar to whatever their practice normally means. But during the second half, we all entered in to something which for me meant pushing myself further than ever before. My legs were screaming and burning more than ever and from time to time it took great focus to tell my body not to give up. I was pouring in sweat, leaving my limbs slippery and my yoga mat wet.

Never before have I felt so close to a group of people I didn’t know. Sometimes we ended up in situations where we bursted in to laughter. Other times we simultaneously screamed in agony as we pushed our bodies beyond our limits. These moments often released an indescribable moan of satisfaction when we finally let our bodies rest for a brief moment. People around me no longer felt like strangers. We were in this together.

This feeling of togetherness is another aspect of yoga which has really changed the way I related to and think about other people. It has been noticeable before, but really peaked during this class.

A shavasana like no other gives me a hint of whats inside me

When we finally landed in shavasana both my body and my mind were tired beyond previous experience. For the first time in hours I let every muscle in my body rest, only feeding it long, deep breaths. Shavasanas does always feel great, but the raw fatigue I had put myself through made this one special. As I laid there, listening to Kitty guiding us through our meditation, I once again put a big smile on my face.

“Yoga takes you into the present moment,
the only place where life exists.”

Right then and there I felt more connected to my body and the present moment than ever before. Random thoughts appeared, as they do, about things like work, friends, upcoming events and such. But it felt different. I felt more as I was observing the thoughts rather than thinking them. I could watch them appear, notice them, and then see them fade away. They didn’t matter. What mattered was right here, right now.

And then, if only for a brief moment, I felt more happy and more grateful than ever before. It was inexpressible bliss.

My journey has only just started

Even though I feel I have made great progress so far I feel humble and exited about the long journey which I have just started. Yoga has shown me things I couldn’t imagine was in me, and teased me to continue to explore and dig deeper.

I am so happy I made yoga a part of my life and myself.