Yoga Beginnings
I pushed the play button on my VCR/DVD player in 2004 and my yoga journey began. It was a very basic thirty minute set with poses like standing forward bend, downward facing dog, cobra, and butterfly to name a few. My favorite was the Savasana (Corpse Pose). Yes I know, it's a simple pose. Yet, it isn't as simple as it seems. Relaxation is hard work. It can become easier over time. But anyway, I was amazed and unimpressed with myself at the same time.
I couldn't touch my toes. The transition from one pose to the other, although explaineDd clearly, physically was a challenge for me. The waterfall sounds helped tremendously and the teacher saying that it was alright not to push my body too far was a refresing thing to hear. I continued using this yoga routine, even after stopping the use of VHS tapes for two years. Within those two years, my fascination with yoga grew and I started to get more videos like, <i>Kabbalah Yoga</i> and <i>Yoga Now</i>, a DVD box set of four videos with Rodney Yee and Muriel Hemingway.
Needless to say, I was having a good time. I had even found a local yoga studio and started taking classes one ro two morning per week to come out of isolation and be able to ask quetions and share thoughts. In a sense, I felt it was like a preparation of sorts as I had to get a surgery in 2006. Between the yoga and a dance aerobics I was enjoying as well, my body was ready. After the surgery, I used Reiki, meditation, and yoga again when my body was ready after about four weeks. In addition, I did drink herbal teas apprpriate for the condition I was being treated before and after, however, I spent so much time in a yogic state of mind, although I didn't quite understand its origins and the ultimate goal of yoga. I understood it as a stress relief and a remedy for physical healing, which included internal organs, not just trying to lose some weight.
After those two years, I started a course I found online based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda for learning meditation from the Kriya Yoga tradition. Ten, soon after, I took the Art and Science of Raja Yoga course as well. I am not initiated in Kriya Yoga. Although, I still use the Regular Breathing technique and the Energiation Exercises from time to time. Eventually, I came across a DVD by Shiva Rea, <i>Yoga Trance Dance</i>, which introduced another type of Hatha Yoga hat incorporated more movement even within the postures and free form dancing with specific meditations. It was this DVD's sets that helped me to detox. I really felt it taking place and it was just like I had read about during my research of beginning yoga and the efects it could have on one's body, mind, and soul.
Amidst the introduction to metaphysics in spiritual and religious studies, I had another spiritual revolution going on with yoga. In my heart, it all prepared for what was to come in a few more years.
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