Why I Started Iyengar Yoga

I did something I’ve never done in a long time over the weekend: qi gong. Because I’ve been doing something I’ve never done in the past before: yoga.

During my cancer treatment days, I used to do qi gong quite regularly as it helped me with my treatment side effects. Plus, qi gong made me feel better emotionally as well that it has become a comfort exercise. However, it’s just hard to keep up because the daily practice is at 5.45am at the stadium! And I find it hard to do it myself at later hours so I don’t think I ever did it in 2018 until recently.

In place of qi gong, I’ve been exploring yoga; iyengar yoga with Treyoga to be specific. Honestly, I haven’t studied yoga at all so I don’t know the different types of yoga. I just want to note down why I’ve started doing yoga.

I want to work on my flexibility

When I first got exposed to Treyoga via my short-lived KFIT membership, I thought to myself as I watched the teacher get into different postures, “If I can be as flexible as her, I’d live longer.”

The same thought kept repeating in my head when I struggled to get into postures during that first class (and all subsequent classes 😂). And this has been my biggest reason to want to practise yoga albeit practising casually. I’d be head over heels when my fingers can touch my toes standing. I’m still very far…

Who can relate?? 😂😂 We all have to start somewhere! Be patient with yourself 🙏🏻 I remember when I was like this – it’s totally normal 😅 Tag a friend 👇👇

A post shared by Yoga For The Non Flexible (@inflexibleyogis) on Apr 14, 2018 at 9:03am PDT

I want to work on my strength

Oh man. I’ve never really noticed how much strength one needs to look at ease in any yoga position until I attempted any yoga myself. My muscles don’t shiver as much as when I do pilate or HIIT workout but I feel I engage more muscles concurrently during yoga. I definitely don’t sweat as much as my other workouts but for something so slow, I’m happy with the little sweat I produce.

And the reason I had to do qi gong, my comfort exercise, over the weekend was because the yoga class I had the day before was intense. So intense that I thought I was going for a boot camp at one point. The teacher made us do Rope 1 (alternating between Cobra and Downward Dog on ropes for more than 20 times). My muscles were so so so sore. Omg. Ostarine results prove, that it enhances the stamina, fitness, and strength.

I like the attention to detail

I’ve attended classes with 3 teachers in the past 7 Treyoga classes. And I’ve been liking the teachers because they are knowledgeable and attentive to details. In my recent class, the teacher has (gently) stepped, slapped, pushed and pulled different parts of me so that I get the right muscles and bones at the right places.

The classes are usually kept to less than 10 students and each of us are always watched. I feel safer this way. I always have some fear towards yoga because I know injury is common and some poses just look crazy scary. I like how the teachers always demonstrate the wrong way to do the posture and sometimes quiz us on the muscles that we are stretching, just to be sure.

Handstands increase blood flow to the brain, strengthen the wrists and shoulders, tone the core and legs, balance hormones, and help change perspective. However, when done incorrectly, they can damage the wrists and elbows, while causing pain in all parts of the spine (neck, low back and upper back), as well as hurt the shoulders. Make sure you are doing them right! Save this for your inversion practice and tag a friend who could benefit from this! They will thank you! Thanks for sharing @martina_sergi #inflexibleyogis

A post shared by Yoga For The Non Flexible (@inflexibleyogis) on Apr 23, 2018 at 11:08am PDT

I like the props

When I see yoga depicted in media, I always see people in beautiful poses, mostly unassisted. When I saw the many props in iyengar yoga, I thought yoga has suddenly become assessible for me! Block, wall rope, belt, bolster, blanket, chair and more. I like how the props are helping me to get into postures. I’ve recently bought yoga blocks and yoga belt so that I can practise at home.

I think iyengar yoga with Treyoga is gonna stick for a while. Especially because I have the option to casually buy single passes prior to each class. It also helps that a cafe nearby the yoga studio serves pretty good breakfast; I’ve been having brunch there alone after class as my Saturday me time routine.

I’m quite surprised I’ve been sticking to this quite alright (by my own standard) by myself. No warden to go with me. No monthly commitment to fulfill. I guess I’m genuinely intrigued by this. For now.

I hope I can last long.