Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Ah, Yoga

While on this away rotation, I've not done much to enjoy myself or the town I'm in, but I'm so forutnate to have gotten to stay with a lady who teaches a yoga class. It had been forever since my last session, but oh goodness...how quickly I realized I must get back into it for my sanity!

I never would have thought that I'd be a yogi. It seemed too, well, new-age granola and also intimidating. When I first started at my YMCA, I didn't figure that I'd last. I quickly discovered how great it was.

It doesn't matter what is going on in your head prior to the session-- a bad experience at work, school, horrible fight with somebody--whatever. I promise, if the class is of decent quality, by the end, you will have cleared your mind. The breathing. The stretching. The gentle pushing, pulling, and sometimes contorting. I'm not one to say that I'm in touch with my body, but in yoga, you can become one with your body and mind...I know... it sounds like some bad info-mercial, but it really made me think more about mind-body-(spirit) medicine and complementary and alternative treatments as well. Mostly about my own sanity though. I needed it during second year of med school...and I think I need it now! If you've not done it--try it--- I don't think that you'll regret it!

4 comments:

Katie! said...

Ah, yoga indeed. I feel the same way about it, even after loving it for almost eight years. It still surprises me how much I enjoy it, how much I really depend on it to keep me sane and whole. I think it's the only thing that's gotten me through med school!

Glad to hear you're doing well!

Raquela said...

Ashley, how does yoga, which has its roots in Buddhism, relate to your faith? Where I live is saturated with yoga, but I cannot come to terms with its dominance in the lives of believers In the one true God.

~Ashley said...

to reply to raquela-- i know nothing about yoga's roots in Buddhism (call me culturally incompetent) but the places where i do yoga--the instructors never talk about yoga being associated with religion. it's about balance, flexibility, attunement to your body in space, and the rhythms of your breaths. now, i may have a completely juvenile understanding of it, but, where i've done it, it's a physical thing, not dipping into the realm of the spiritual really, and definitely NOT into the realm of religiosity.

Raquela said...

"Yoga is intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of the Indian religions. The influence of Yoga is visible in Buddhism, a descendant of Hinduism, which is distinguished by its austerities, spiritual exercises, and trance states."

I'd be careful, if I were you, Ashley. On the surface, it may seem all good, but then so did the fruit on the tree in the Garden of Eden. Pray about it. Ask God to show you how He feels about it.