Manli Nouri
Professor Douglass
22 October 2012
Midterm Paper
Lesley University
Yoga
For
my midterm project, I attended the yoga class that Lesley University offers
every Tuesday night. Since there was not
much information provided with what kind of yoga was practiced there, I was not
able to research and prepare myself for it beforehand. At the end of class, however, I go the chance
to talk to the instructor, Maria Hudson, for a few minutes and found out that the type of yoga
that we had practiced was called vinyasa yoga.
It
was located in the studio at Stebbins on main campus. There were some students there early, sitting
on yoga matts that were provided. Not
everyone was there, however. A few
showed up after the class started, with some walking in in the middle of class.
Even though the area was not spacious,
the room was filled with college students by the end of the class. The class was made up of a diverse group of
college students. It was easy to see in
some that it was their first time doing yoga, whereas in others it was easy to
see that they had been doing yoga for some time.
Since this was not
a yoga studio, there was nothing yoga related in the studio. There was a net and some chairs at one end of
the room. The walls were green and white
and had the word “lynx” and a paw drawn on them. Except for the mirror in front of the room,
the walls were mostly bare. The students
were lined up in two rows behind one another, facing the mirror and the
instructor stood, with her mat placed sideways, with her back to the mirror,
facing the students. As late students
began to come in, they went and stood besides the teacher. Besides the last minute or two of yoga, the
studio was lit.
The
instructor started promptly at seven o’clock, however, that did not mean the
talking stopped. She spent a good
portion of the beginning of class focusing on breathing. It was different than Yoga: Theory, Culture, and Practice, because she did not keep
asking us to focus on where our mind was wondering off to while we were breathing,
instead we were told to just focus on our breathing. She also told us to promise to ourselves to
focus on our breathing throughout yoga that night. She then “warmed up” every part of our body by
telling us to do simple motions, such as circling our necks or stretching our
legs. At first I did not understand why
we had to get warmed up, but by the end of the session I did.
Vinyasa
yoga is much different than I had become accustomed to practicing in this
course. Vinyasa is a very similar type
of yoga as compared to ashtanga yoga that was created by K. Pattabhi Jois. Ashtanga is a rigid and very rule-based type
of yoga. It has six series of poses that one must accomplish. However, these poses must be accomplished in
an order. Someone cannot start mastering
a pose in series two if they have not first mastered the pose in the first
series. Therefor, this is very hard to
accomplish, having only a few people today that have mastered all six levels. Vinyasa seems to be more of a freestyle form
of ashtanga. It takes the poses from ashtanga
but from all different series, not just starting at the first and moving up
from there, but mixing them all together (“Om
Shanti: A Yoga Blog,” 2007).
This type of yoga puts a great
emphasis on breathing. Each pose is
followed by a breath, making the movements not only more rapid and intense, but
also more dance-like. The synchronized
breathing gave the movements a flow, which is why this type of yoga is also
referred to as flow yoga or vinyasa flow yoga. Vinyasa is literally translated from Sanskrit
to meaning “connection” and after practicing vinyasa yoga, it made sense that
it was called that because there was a clear connection linking all the poses
together and giving it a smooth flow (“Vinyasa
Yoga - Flow Yoga," 2012).
During
the class, the instructor instructed us to get into a downward facing dog, then
into a high pushup, low pushup, upward dog, and lastly back to a downward
facing dog. We started out spending a
good amount of time in each pose. However,
as the class continued, the movements became more like a flow and more
vigorous. Now, instead of staying in the
poses, we were instructed to either exhale or inhale into the next pose with
the same pattern of starting and ending with the downward facing dog position
as before. During this part of class, as
people’s strengths were challenged and it became harder to keep a pose, the
room was filled with people’s giggles and laughter. This did not seem to upset the instructor as
she started laughing herself. As she saw
some people could not hold the pose, she showed the class a way that seemed
easier to do some of the poses. She said
that the worst thing was to not do it at all.
Therefore, to do the easier version was much better than not doing it at
all.
The
cat crawl and sun salutation poses were also worked into the flow. At one point we stopped doing the “flow” and
started the cat crawl and inhaling and raising our necks then exhaling and
dropping out head down. We practiced
uttanasana and flat back many times in between the flows. We also lunged many times and came into the
warrior 1 and 2 positions throughout the session.
During
the last few minutes of class, the lights were turned off and it became more
quite. We were told to lie down and close
our eyes. This lasted for only about a
minute and then we were instructed to turn to our sides and sit up. She ended the class with an Ohm and then by
saying “The light within you is the light within me. Namaste.” Then everyone thanked the instructor and left.
After the class had ended, I got a few minutes to talk to the instructor but
she had to go so I did not get to ask some questions that I had. From those few
minutes, the only information I gathered was that she was a student, absolutely
loved yoga and seemed like a very relaxed person overall.
In
general, as compared to hatha yoga, Vinyasa gave me more of a physical workout.
I was sweating at the end of class,
whereas I am never sweating at the end of hatha. In this sense, hatha seemed more of a
beginner’s class, whereas vinyasa seemed more vigorous. Since this was a class for college students it
made sense that the instructor did not refer to a certain pose by its real
name, or at least until towards the end, but rather refer to it by its translated
equivalent in English. For example,
instead of saying chaturanga, she would say get into a low pushup so that
everyone was able to understand. Also,
unlike the hatha yoga that’s practiced in the course, there was music. She played meditative music from before the
class started until the session was over, which made it more soothing and
relaxing. However, I found hatha yoga to
be much more relaxing than vinyasa yoga. Hatha seemed to move at a much slower pace and
seemed to concentrate more on mastering the pose. Vinyasa seemed to primarily focus on breathing
and keeping up a flow. By the end of
each hatha class in the course, during the deep relaxation part where we are
all lying down, I am so relaxed that I fall asleep every single time and wake
up feeling more energized and fully relaxed. However, at the end of the vinyasa class, even
though she had turned off the lights and soothing music was playing, I was not
relaxed at all. I do not know whether it
was because in the course we talk through relaxing every part of our body or it
had to do with how rigorous vinyasa yoga was as compared to hatha, but I could
not fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. It also may have had to do with the fact that
we only had about a minute to lie down whereas in class it seems like we get
more time. I also think that hatha yoga
is more relaxing because my eyes are closed for most of the class, whereas in vinyasa
I found it almost impossible to close my eyes because I had to either see what
was next or I was moving into another pose.
What I found
interesting was that I did not think that we meditated at all during the class,
but at the end found out that we had meditated throughout the session. Meditating can be looked at in different ways.
One way it is practiced in yoga, not
specifically vinyasa yoga, is with your mind (“Om Shanti: A Yoga Blog,” 2007). When we were first walked through the flow,
all I could think about was the amount of pain I was in and how I could not
hold the pose for much longer. However,
after some time I took in the pain and observed what it was doing to me and
where my mind was going, which I had learned from the course. This helped me hold the pose for longer and
not laugh about how weak I was, but instead concentrate. This concentration gave me relaxation and was
much more rewarding than concentrating on the pain and wanting to stop.
I was content with
my choice in attending this yoga session. It was a different type of yoga as
compared to the one practiced in class and a new and rewarding experience. Ever
since this center opened in 2010, it has served many college students and I am
certain has made a difference in most of their lives, I know it did in mine.
Although I do not know much about different types of yoga, I can say that due
to this new experience, I am much more open to trying new types and becoming
more involved in learning about the different types of yoga.
Works Cited
"Om Shanti: A Yoga Blog." Om
Shanti: A Yoga Blog. N.p., 10 Jan. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2012.
<http://yogaisforlovers.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/what-is-vinyasa-flow-yoga/>.
"Vinyasa Yoga - Flow Yoga."
About.com Yoga. N.p., 17 June 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012.
<http://yoga.about.com/od/typesofyoga/a/vinyasa.htm>.
Yoga is also helpful for kids but with some precautions...
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