5. Yoga 101

When I first stepped onto the yoga mat, little did I know that the journey would transform me from the inside out. Join me, Sara, as I recount the transformative power of yoga and how it became my guiding light through life's toughest moments. In our latest episode, we break down the stereotypes, shining a light on its profound benefits for everyone, including the muscle-building enthusiasts. Together, we'll uncover the holistic impact of yoga on our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, revealing how it extends far beyond just trendy poses and into the heart of conscious living.

We'll explore yoga's ability to enhance cognitive functions, which is increasingly vital as we navigate a world where mental acuity is king. I'll share not only scientific findings but also personal insights on how yoga provides a much-needed structure to daily life, boosts self-confidence, and fosters a sense of community that touches even the most reserved among us. We'll also discuss the importance of listening to your body and the wisdom that can be gained from experienced yoga teachers, offering practical tips on approaching your practice with the care and attention it deserves. Whether you're new to the world of yoga or a longtime practitioner, this episode promises to deepen your understanding and inspire your practice.


Resources (scientific Benefits of yoga) :

 Increased Gray Matter Volume:

Holzel, B. K., et al. (2008). Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala. NeuroImage, 35(1), 289-293.

Changes in Brain Connectivity:

Tang, Y. Y., et al. (2010). Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(43), 17152-17156.

Altered Brain Waves:

Cahn, B. R., & Polich, J. (2006). Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132(2), 180-211.

Improved Cognitive Function:

Wells, R. E., et al. (2013). Meditation for adults with mild cognitive impairment: A pilot randomized trial. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 61(4), 642-645.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, welcome to the podcast between heart and brain. I'm Sarah, and I'm here to be with you in your personal growth and self-improvement journey, and I'm here to share my own life experiences with you. I'm a yoga teacher, a business intelligence manager with a master's degree in IT, and Nobel Queen International 2023 with health and wellness advocacy. I'm so excited to start this journey with you, to uplift you with positivity, the power of mindfulness and yoga and the freedom of conscious living. So let's start together and take a moment for yourself, and take a moment for yourself, my dear podcast listeners. Salam. Salam means hi in Persian and, as you might know already, I'm Persian. So happy to have you here again if it's not your first time listening to the podcast of Between Heart and Brain, or welcome to the podcast if it's your first time listening. So I'm Sarah, your host again, and today we're going to discuss the topic of yoga. By the way, if it's not your first time and you're listening again, please, please, do rate this podcast from wherever you're listening If it's Spotify, apple Podcasts, web browser. I would really appreciate if you provide a feedback, because this is totally created by me, without any sponsors, without you know, just for me to share what's in my heart to other people, people other than my friends and my family and the people who I keep really close to my heart. To other people, people other than my friends and my family and the people who I keep really close to my heart. So, going back to the topic of today yoga, yoga, yoga.

Speaker 1: 1:54

What is yoga? Yoga is an ancient Indian practice. It has different aspects. It includes physical postures, which are called asanas. Asana is a physical posture that should be comfortable and stable. Yoga also includes breath control or breath work, which is called pranayama, as well as meditation. There are so many kinds of meditation Probably we'll have another episode about that but basically the goal of meditation is to train your mind and focus on one thing. It also includes ethical principles. If you're into that, I suggest you Google Yamas and Niyamas. Those are good examples. Yoga literally means to unite. It basically is the concept of uniting body, mind and spirit. So that's the definition of yoga so far.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Let's talk about reasons to practice yoga. So for every person who already has the experience of practicing yoga, there are, I would say, hundreds or millions of reasons to practice yoga for the first time. The common reasons would be that it's trendy, maybe someone saw it in social media, or because a friend is practicing and we're trying to join their journey or their hobby or their workout, to connect deeper, or out of curiosity or to, you know, to deal with an injury or an illness. Sometimes doctors recommend so many reasons, but one thing that I kind of hear often, especially from those that get really deep into the practice, is that they came from a place of hurt. They came from a place of hurt or a place that you can kind of call rock bottom. Not sure why, but that's also my experience. I sincerely believe that yoga was put in front of me in my life journey. It might sound superficial, but that's really my experience. That's what I feel with all the cells in my body. I didn't look for it, I didn't expect it, it's just that it was put in front of me. So, talking about that a little, I was at a place that I didn't really feel grounded at all. That's a long story so I don't want to talk about that. But for some reason I got introduced to yoga and the first session that I had was amazing. It opened my eyes, it opened my mind. I realized there is so much for me to learn about me, and that was really amazing to me. So that's why I kept it going. I kept practicing, not regularly at first, but, you know, somehow consistent, a little bit inconsistent, but I kept on practicing and it became an important part of my life so far for the past six years.

Speaker 1: 5:37

So I want to talk about some misconceptions about yoga as well that I'm trying to address. One of the major misconceptions is that yoga is for women. Oh my God, that's so wrong. I cannot count how many times I've told my colleagues or my guy friends that let's practice yoga and at first they'll look on their faces, or you know their actual verbal response. You know, because, as men, we like to go to the gym and I'm like, you know, sounds so funny to me. I'm like, oh, is that so? So you think yoga is very easy. I really, really invite you to practice with me. Once. So one of my close friends that was his answer, and he was open-minded. He is open-minded enough. Still, he was open-minded enough to try it with me and you know, of course, he was mind blown by the complexity and the strength it takes to practice yoga poses.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Mind you that we practice like very beginner yoga, so it's a humbling experience for some men, I would say, especially those who hit the gym a lot. And why would I say that it's not for women only? I have this friend who, as part of their job they have to, you know, they have to be fit. So they go to the gym often and they're also recommended to practice yoga, because when you hit the gym often your body becomes really stiff. That's also an experience of a close friend, of my husband as well. He was looking forward to practicing yoga because after years of hitting the gym, he feels that his muscles are, you know, they're yeah, he feels fit, but he's not flexible, like his mobility has decreased. So it's really important, even as a woman, as a man, when you go to the gym, you practice yoga also.

Speaker 1: 7:43

Yoga is not actually just for flexibility, it's also for strengthening and so many more goals that you can have with it, including calming and so much more. But you can use the flexibility benefit of yoga for those who like to practice at the gym. It's really not for women only because, as I said, it's an ancient Indian practice. It was the religious and the religion wasn't for women only. It's just that you know, these days it's usually practiced by women, probably most of the times. So there's this misconception that it's for women.

Speaker 1: 8:25

For me, I'm not really a gym person I haven't been, yet I always felt more comfortable to do yoga on my mat than go to the gym or get a trainer. So, as I mentioned, yoga is about flexibility and strength. So some people, especially a lot of my beginner students, they think that for them to practice yoga they have to be flexible or they have to be strong. For example, they come to me oh, I want to practice yoga, but unfortunately I'm not flexible, and my answer always is that you don't have to be flexible to practice yoga. You practice yoga to become flexible. Did you hear that you practice yoga to become flexible?

Speaker 1: 9:15

A big part of yoga is accepting your body as is accepting yourself as is. I think I talked about that before as well, if I'm not mistaken. What you can do is what you will do. You will not push yourself. It's not a competition, even with yourself. It's not a competition Even with yourself. You just accept yourself as you are and eventually your body and brain will adapt and will adjust. You will feel the changes sooner than you even expect If you just practice every week, and I suggest starting twice a week. All right, then.

Speaker 1: 9:53

Another misconception is that it's a spiritual practice For some people. Yes, for Hindus, yes, but for those who their religion is different or they are very religious, sometimes I hear that they feel bad practicing yoga because they think it's a disrespect to their own religion, for example, being Christian or Catholic or Muslim or anything. For those people, I suggest looking at it just as a workout practice. Just as a workout. It doesn't have to become spiritual or religious. If you don't give it that meaning, it's going to benefit your body anyways. When you practice it. It's going to benefit your brain anyways, and it's scientifically proven that it does benefit your brain. I'm going to talk about that in this episode, actually. So just look at it as something that helps with your life, with your being, just like how you take multivitamins to feel better in your body and in your mind.

Speaker 1: 10:59

So now let's talk about the benefits of yoga. There are scientific and non-scientific benefits. So the ones that are not scientific they are my opinion or based on experience or the things that I've heard and the scientific ones, I'm going to discuss them briefly and I'm going to add the details of the resources that I got this info from the journals and you can go ahead and read them yourself just to make sure that these are credible or the information is credible. Okay, one thing that I found really fascinating is that practicing yoga or meditation increases the gray matter of the brain, the volume of their gray matter Like wow, really. So several studies have found that long-term meditation practitioners tend to have greater gray matter volume in regions of the brain associated with attention, sensory processing and emotional regulation. So if you feel like you're at a place in your life that your emotions are all over the place, or you know someone that their emotions are all over the place, they're very much reactive and responsive. I suggest inviting them to try meditation. Take a couple of yoga classes. Usually, yoga classes include at least a brief meditation practice.

Speaker 1: 12:46

Next one changes in brain connectivity. Meditation and yoga practice have been associated with changes in functional connectivity patterns in the brain, particularly in networks involved in attention, self-awareness and emotional processing. How amazing is that? Your brain, your brain cells or the neurons I don't know much about you know how the connectivity of the, how the communication in the brain works, but I understand enough that it helps your brain to connect better to communicate better, to connect better, to communicate better. And next one is altered brainwaves. So I'm going to read it for you again EEG studies have shown that meditation and yoga practices can lead to changes in brainwave patterns, including increased activity in alpha and theta frequency bands. Increase activity in alpha and theta frequency bands, which are associated with relaxation, attention and meditation states Again, wow.

Speaker 1: 14:06

Next one improve cognitive function. I mean, who doesn't want that, especially these days that we hear a lot of people you know getting, or are prone to getting, alzheimer's? Like, why not invest in our future so we can enjoy our lives throughout the journey, at every stage of the life? Some studies have reported improvements in cognitive functions such as attention, memory and executive function following regular yoga and meditation practice. Okay, so these were the scientific benefits of yoga. Again, I'll be adding the details of the resources in the show notes. Now let's talk about the benefits that are not scientific, and these are my opinions. You might find more benefits, so feel free to share them with me. I would like to hear it from you. You can always message me in instagram, on instagram or if you can find my yoga facebook page.

Speaker 1: 15:08

So for me, someone who practices yoga first of all, has something to do regularly. That's really good. A lot of times when we are bored or when we don't have much happening in our lives for whatever reason it could be between jobs or, you know, feeling not so well, feeling a little depressed. When we don't have something to do, we keep on overthinking and overthinking. So when you practice yoga, we don't have something to do. We keep on overthinking and overthinking. So when you practice yoga, you actually have something to do. You have a purpose, a goal to wear your yoga clothes, get out of the house, go to that place that you practice, say hi to a few people, discover or explore the abilities of your body and mind. I find that very rewarding.

Speaker 1: 16:01

Aside from that, I believe that yoga allows us to feel a lot more connected to our body and also confident about it. I mentioned this before. If I'm not mistaken, when I practiced yoga for the first time the first class ever that I took I remembered that the thing that made me feel surprised the most is that I had no idea that I did not know my dimensions. I am still a clumsy person and I was a lot clumsier that time. I used to hit the wall and the chair and everything. There were always bruises on my legs and my arms because I didn't know my dimensions.

Speaker 1: 16:50

When you do yoga, when you extend your arms, when you extend your legs, when you do a back bend, a forward fold, you kind of learn your dimensions. You learn when your palms are going to land, as well as your feet or your head or anything. You learn about your body. So having this awareness about our body makes us feel a lot more confident. I would say we also get to know more about ourselves. For example, there are some poses that come a lot more naturally to some people than to the others, and vice versa. So when you have that knowledge of your body, or apparently doing this pose uh, let's say the yogic squat, it's so easy for me and looks like it's not easy for everyone. Or doing a split wow, it's so easy for me, it looks like it's not easy for everyone. So this feeling of being, this feeling of being more connected and more aware about your own body, is really nice. It's really rewarding.

Speaker 1: 17:56

Your body has been with you since the beginning, since day one, even when you were in your mom's womb. I mean, yeah, it got developed there, but still it's been with you, so why not learn it completely? We spend so much time sometimes to learn about a friend or a boyfriend or a partner or someone that we idolize so much, and then we don't give that love and attention to ourselves. We learn ourselves that much. I find that crazy. I'm not judging, I mean I've been there also but I found it crazy that time when I was like that also the first time that I took that first yoga class.

Speaker 1: 18:40

And one more benefit that I would say is meeting new people, feeling connected to other people. That's a good feeling, especially if you're introverted. It's a good practice. You don't have to talk to anyone. No one expects you to talk to them. But eventually when you show up in the same class with the same teacher or even different teachers, sometimes same students eventually you create that bond and your community gets bigger. Your group of friends might even get bigger. That's also a nice feeling. You know, feeling connected to other human beings always gives us that feeling of happiness and satisfaction with ourselves, with life in general.

Speaker 1: 19:26

And also we have the opportunity to learn a lot from our yoga teachers. A lot of times our yoga teachers instruct us, instruct doing a pose in a certain way compared to another one, or sometimes they give you some life tips in the middle that you've never thought about it that way and, wow, it sticks, because it's something that you can relate to or you can understand deeply. So here are. Here were the. These were the non-scientific benefits that I was able to share with you, and I really hope that it was informative to you and you were able to take something from it and give you more motivation to continue your practice. If you're already a yogi, or maybe try it, try it once if you haven't, regardless of your gender, your age. Just give it a try and be kind to yourself. We have an open mind when you do so.

Speaker 1: 20:36

Next, I would like to talk about a few things to be careful about when you want to practice yoga. First and foremost, listen to your own body. Allow your body to be your teacher. Listen to your body. Your body is always telling you what she or he needs or wants. Don't push yourself too much if you're not ready, and if you feel like you are, then try it. So listen to your body and try to connect to your experience. A lot of times we think about how the poses look when we're doing them and how they feel. So I invite you to think about how it actually feels when you're doing a pose. Think about how it actually feels when you're doing a pose, when you're doing your warrior one, when you're doing your half moon pose. Take it slow, move mindfully and really observe how it feels. So connect to your practice, to your experience.

Speaker 1: 21:51

Next one is to come from a non-judgmental place towards yourself and towards other people. It's never about competition. Honestly, if I see that at some places or some people see yoga as a form of competition, I try to stay away because it's never about competition. We all have our own journeys. We all have totally different bodies. No two bodies are exactly the same. So I'm not saying be, don't be excited about wanting to get better. Do get better.

Speaker 1: 22:36

If you feel, if you've done a pose for the first time or the second or the hundredth time and you're happy and proud of it, sure, share it with people. But and don't allow that to add to your ego or judge someone else if they're not able to do a pose happiness towards that feeling of satisfaction, towards that elevated mindset, that stronger body. Be respectful of that journey for yourself and for others. So if, for regarding yourself. Actually, if you see that you've been really trying to do a pose and you're not getting there, don't get frustrated oh my god, I cannot it. Okay, there are so many more things you can do, right, there are so many more poses you can do, and don't think about if it's beginner, if it's intermediate, if it's advanced. Just enjoy what you're doing at that moment. Be present at that moment, give yourself credit for whatever you're doing and allow your experience to remain beautiful and satisfactory for you.

Speaker 1: 23:59

One last that I would like to tell you is your health and medical conditions. Especially if you're a beginner it's your first time attending a yoga class you should always let your teacher know about your medical and health conditions or if you have an injury, so that they are mindful of the poses that they give you during the class, or the modifications, or if something is good for you or not. So please do share it with your teacher. They will actually be really thankful if you do so. Usually, teachers ask at the beginning of the class and, if not, please do share it with your teacher. It's good for you and it's good for them.

Speaker 1: 24:48

The last part that I want to cover are types of yoga. So I'm not going to mention all types of yoga. There are so many kinds of yoga these days, but I'm going to talk about a few. Before that, I just want to talk about Hatha yoga. So Hatha yoga is the traditional form of yoga, is basically the root of our yoga types.

Speaker 1: 25:13

It's a little slower than vinyasa, for example, because each pose you will stay in a pose for a few breaths. It's not very much fast. You will really feel a pose. You allow your body to feel the pose. Your muscles, you take it slow. You understand the pose. Then we have our vinyasa. Vinyasa is a little bit faster and we try to sync our breath with our movements. We don't stay in a pose for too long like Hatha, and I would say that there is more freedom in vinyasa. I would say that there is more freedom in vinyasa. You can move freely and you can stretch in different poses. So that's one for my yoga. That's one of my favorites.

Speaker 1: 26:05

We also have ashtanga, which is a specific sequence of poses, and those sequences are beginner, intermediate or advanced. So if you feel like you need to have a routine, maybe you want to give Ashtanga a try. You also have Yin Yoga. Yin Yoga you stay in a pose for much longer. For example, you can stay in a pose from one to five minutes, or maybe even longer, depends on the teacher and the aim of yin yoga is to target the connective tissues rather than the muscles. Unlike, for example, vinyasa, we also have hot yoga, so hot yoga is when you practice any style of yoga in a room that is heated, so you'll be really sweating, you'll be feeling the heat a lot and you'll be practicing your yoga practice. Yeah, I guess these are the types of yoga that I wanted to talk to you about. If you haven't practiced yoga, I believe this episode gives you a good understanding of what yoga is and what to expect in your first practice, first yoga experience, and if you're already practicing, I hope that you were able to add to your existing knowledge about yoga.

Speaker 1: 27:36

Thanks for listening to me, and I connect with you in the next episode. Thank you, dear listeners, for joining me on this empowering journey today. As we conclude this episode, remember that your potential is boundless and your journey to a more fulfilling life has only just begun. I'm here to support you every step of the way, so keep coming back for more insights and inspiration, and remember this podcast is proudly independent, created with a passion for making a positive impact. Your support means the world to me, so please consider subscribing and sharing it with the people you know. Together, we can inspire more individuals on their journey to empowerment and a better life. See you soon for more life-changing discussions. Until we meet again, stay empowered.