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(773) 463-YOGA | info@bloomyogastudio.com 4663 N. Rockwell, Chicago, IL 60625 |
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The Thinking Yogi by Kerry Maiorca November 2004: Why Yoga? With all the choices for keeping healthy these days one might ask, why yoga? Why not kick boxing, running, spinning, or any number of other activities that keep you fit? As a person who has played competitive sports as well as danced professionally, physical activity has always been part of my life. But after I took my first yoga class in New York eight years ago, I had an inkling that though yoga was a very physical practice, there was something beyond the physicality that was even more exciting. The purpose of yoga is not to give you rock hard abs or a firm bottom, though many people do observe changes in their bodies as a result of regular practice. The yogis who developed the system of poses and breathing exercises thousands of years ago believed it was a way of preparing the body to sit comfortably for meditation. All this physical effort, they felt, would help quiet the mind and bring you into the present moment. Many forms of exercise stimulate the release of adrenaline, as in the “runner’s high.” Adrenaline is essential for survival; when primitive man felt threatened, adrenaline enabled him to either fight or flee the tiger. But now in our busy and stressful lives, a looming deadline or a heated argument may seem just as threatening to our system as a hungry tiger did to primitive man. Many of us operate almost entirely on adrenaline – from morning as we drive defensively to work, through afternoon when we multi-task to meet a pressing deadline, to evening when we come home and go for a long, hard run. Yoga develops strength and flexibility without sacrificing softness and ease. By paying attention to what’s happening in the body, yoga helps us downshift from adrenaline mode to restorative mode, so we may replenish rather than continuing to deplete ourselves. When you’re caught up and life is going smoothly, it’s easy to say that it’s important to take care of your body and restore daily. But what happens when stress sets in? As we prepared to open Bloom, there were days when my to-do list spanned two pages and I often “didn’t have time” for yoga. My neck began to ache, my temper grew short, and I moved into battle mode, trying desperately to conquer every detail. But then I’d think about why we opened the studio in the first place, how Zach and I wanted to create a community where people (including ourselves) could put health and happiness first. So I made time for a down dog, even if just briefly, I went out for a short walk, or simply took a deep breath and stretched in my chair. Yoga is not just about the physical, though the physical benefits are profound. It’s a dedication to being good to yourself, committing to spending at least part of your day out of adrenaline mode, recharging rather than depleting your system. Yoga is a commitment to health both physically and mentally. |
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