Wellness Journey Experiences

Prior to ever stepping foot in a yoga studio I was curious about it for many years. I grew
up in a rural small town, in which there was no yoga class or studio, so I was not able to explore
this form of exercise, meditation, and personal growth. After moving to a metropolitan area to
go back to school, I had it in the back of my mind to try yoga. I finally made the plunge into
yoga by purchasing a Groupon for a Bikram (Hot yoga) studio near me. I ended up loving the
challenge of learning the poses, coping with the heat, and experiencing the purifying effects of
Bikram. I had been practicing Bikram yoga regularly for about 9 months when I enrolled for the
SLCC beginning yoga course (I needed a Lifetime Wellness credit for my Associates degree). I
was excited to try this different form of yoga! My instructor described the SLCC yoga course as
Hatha yoga. It was very different from Bikram yoga, especially in the diversity of poses and
pose progression. Bikram sessions always include twenty-six poses in the same order; Hatha
poses were at the discretion of the instructor, making each class unique. Again, I enjoyed the
challenge of learning new poses (my favorite being the 'twisting awkward' pose).

Throughout the semester we were given opportunities to reinforce our learning and to
challenge ourself with more difficult poses. An "ah-ha" moment occurred for me when we were
introduced to the "Side Crow" pose. It seemed very daunting, even impossible, but our
instructor, Val, made the comment "You never know if you can or cannot do a pose until you
try." I really like this approach! We learn through trying--often we have to fail several times
prior to being successful, but that is an integral part of personal growth.

A new concept that was presented was the seven core Chakras, areas of dynamic energy
in our bodies. This is a concept that interests me, but is somewhat hard to wrap my head around.
Perhaps it is because I compare the ideas presented against my conservative Christian
background, thinking that the Chakra-beliefs are religious-based. However, it is more likely that
I simply struggle to understand, or believe, spiritual concepts related to our bodies. Chakras
have a very real physical component, but deal heavily with unseen energy forces.

It was presented that we are dynamic beings, full of energy and movement. Our brain
and nervous system are very complex and form a super-highway of electrical and chemical
impulses. It is logical to grasp that this energy could be affected by our experience, the way we
deal with problems, adversity, stress, and sorrow. As a culture we often speak about "bottling it
up inside" or internalizing experiences/emotions. It would be logical that by doing these things
we could inhibit, or block, the flow of energy through our chakras. Imbalance has been shown to
lead to internal unrest, mental illness, and other diseases (such as cancer, gastric ulcers, etc..). I
want to cultivate an open mind and explore my curiosity regarding Chakra meditation and
development. I have not been able to devote much time to practicing this, but I have an artice on
Chakras that was very informative and will revisit this.
 Our instructor also introduced us to Metta, also known as 'Loving-kindness meditation'. I
really liked this concept! The progression of advocating well-wishes (happiness, safety, peace,
freedom from greed, hatred, and ignorance) to yourself, then to others, was intriguing. I believe
these intentions are powerful--they evoke feelings of loving-kindness, which have a positive
impact on our mental outlook. Moreover, they can help us experience freedom from our current
issues that confound us and cause us to lose mindfulness.

It is also very logical and powerful to realize that metta asks us to establish loving-
kindness in ourselves prior to extending it to others. In this way, we are able to radiate loving-
kindness from our being. It is easy to extend metta to those we hold dear, but to go beyond that
and extend it to people that we do not necessarily like, even an enemy, takes mindfulness and
effort. I think this is invaluable though--holding feelings of ill-will and resentment are very
corrosive, but metta can turn those feelings around, giving us more peace.

Extending metta to a neutral party, someone we may see in our lives but not know
personally, is fascinating. That person will probably never know that they are in our thoughts
and intentions, but could they be impacted by our directing loving-kindness meditation to them?
Contemplating our own power for positive change is intriguing indeed! I really connected with
this form of meditation. I was moved by the feelings of benevolence that metta invokes. Despite
extending metta to myself first, I find that metta really cultivates altruism and peace--who doesn't
benefit from more of those! I also feel like this form of meditation effectively delivers me to a
place of relaxation better than other forms.