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'An upright posture and a few relaxed breaths can make a great difference' --BUDDHA-- Yoga is my passion. Its effects are incredibly powerful. It has the ability to link everything together. Yoga does not limit or discriminate against anyone – regardless of age (both young and old), religion (you can use it to deepen your own chosen spiritual practice, If indeed you have one), financial position (the tools necessary are your body, your breath, whatever time you can surrender and a wee bit of space) and physical ability - if you can breathe, you can do yoga, I’m serious. There are over 2000 asanas (postures) many of them with wonderful names depicting the animals who naturally and instinctively assume these postures in their own exercise routines honouring their own daily rhythms: ever watched a cat sleepily rising up? Arching her spine upwards, then stretching her limbs to then proudly step forth to start her day? There is also the cobra, the crow, the frog, the lion, the peacock ............ the simplicity is awesome.
I discovered just how powerful yoga can be whilst travelling through India. At that stage of my life I had not long left the shores of New Zealand and had only a few stamps in passport. I had my PE degree and had worked as a personal trainer and an aerobics instructor. I had not done any yoga. I was not ready for India, at all. My first two weeks there I spent the whole time crying and trying to hide the sights with my hands. The smells, the sounds, the people, it was a sensory overload with such intensity. The complete absence of rubbish bins and the poverty rocked me to the very core of my being. I was in big trouble. I couldn’t believe that with my money and time I had picked of all the places to come to - India!!!!! There were so many amazing nice places in the world I could have been enjoying instead - lieing on a lounger sipping pina coladas amongst palm trees gazing over azure waters…… Of course the more I cried and resisted India, the more it rose to the occasion of beating me down. I was attracting crowds grabbing at my hands, arms, shoulders, tapping my back, catching my eye all trying to capitalise on my vulnerability with their hunger. I was not coping. [A huge thank you to Meir, my boyfriend at the time :-) ] ‘Benares school of Yoga’. Following that first ever class I found myself back on the streets of a city lost in time. I was breathing more deeply, more calmly. Everything had a different light to it. I seemed to have more space around me, the crowds weren’t harassing me as they once had done. I was grounded and was not so cerebral anymore. I just knew everything was going to be okay from here.
‘Yoga’ means union – the union between body and breath – the union between the trinity: mind – body – spirit. Another immediate benefit from yoga was incredible body freedom. After the long long train and bus journeys around India (of 12hours+) a closed and crumpled body had the heavenly experience of opening and relaxing through breathing. Yoga is unique in that it strengthens as it lengthens. Unlike the lifting of weights in a gym which strengthens through shortening. The weight applied is tailormade – that of your own body, you get strong for you – which is all you really need in life: to be able to handle yourself. It is balanced, both sides and muscle groups are kept in wonderful equilibrium. Which, again, is a huge flaw in exercise programmes which often are not – unless designed by a knowledgeable exercise prescriber, which are hard to come by. Yoga is the oldest science of life, some texts state that it dates back to over 2000 years ago. It is the sister science of Ayuveda, the traditional Indian medicine system, which like yoga is again rising in popularity due to the simplicity and sense of its principles. Contact Huia today to enquire further into how yoga can strengthen and slow your lifestyle … really, anyone can do it! |
