I started yoga as a last resort. I'd been bed ridden for 8 months and no other option of exercise was feasible for my epstein-barr riddled body. I 'luckily' found a 20 min. yoga program on fit TV that used a gentle vinyasa flow or a continual movement of yoga as I don't think I would have ever tried the type that just held the poses (asanas) for minutes at a time. It had good music and soothing, changeable backdrops that held my interest. I began with kneeling, going into child's pose and a cat rolling. My body lasted 5 minutes before my inflamed spleen and liver couldn't handle the movement anymore. I laid down. I had more energy than I'd had for the previous 8 months. I felt better.
I tried it again the next day. 5 minutes more.
I noticed a pattern that the days I did a simple 5 minutes felt better than the days I did none. What was it about this movement that made my body sing?
I began a quest to find out why and to make it through an entire 20 minute session (complete with 1 minute savasana--in which my mind wandered vigorously).
I tried stretching with music.
I tried books with new stretches.
There was something to this breathing. I couldn't keep it up without my TV yoga script to keep my breath in line with the movements. I wasn't "disciplined" enough I thought. Truly, I'd never breathed fully for years and had once again begun.
My journey led me to Syl Carson and her Bodhi Yoga. By this time, 18 months later, I was over the chronic fatigue and could do the 90 min. yoga DVDs she produced. Her yoga felt so good and the way she approached her yoga enabled me to explore unknown realms in my body and express grace I didn't know existed. Any onlooker might just see me in a back bend or the almost mark of the splits, but I was really flying.
Now I'm about to attend my second session of Bodhi Yoga's Teacher Training 5 month course. I am finding the answers I knew existed. I've recently attached my own personal pair of wings.
http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/
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