Yoga as a Physical Culture

Yoga is framed way more than just exercise. Yoga postures may be a part of exercise and may help shape your body into ways that you may appreciate, but yoga runs deeper than strengthening our core muscles. It can be seen more as an expression and connection of our emotions. Yoga, said by many yogis, is the union and interdependence of mind, body, and spirit. Unlike other exercises, yoga can frame balance in our bodies by increasing spirituality, strength, and flexibility.

When practicing yoga, we are able to stay in the present moment. When we do other exercises such as running or Zumba we are putting strenuous effort on our bodies all in an effort to sweat as much as we can in order to burn as many calories as possible. Strenuous exercise may be a great stress reliever for some, but it does not compare to the empowerment that yoga is able to give us. Personally, if I do not push myself into oblivion while working out in the gym, I feel horrible. But I notice with yoga, because it is a slow practice, I also have more of a positive attitude after coming out of class.

After practicing the Bikram yoga this week I notice that in many ways yoga can empower you. Yoga empowers us by being able to focus internally and to tune everything out. When we out listening to our bodies, and slowly pushing into these postures, we are empowering ourselves by doing things we never thought we could. Personally, I have a short fuse and just about everything annoys me. After finishing this class, I noticed a change in my behavior. I felt a lot more controlled and less tense. To be able to control levels of concentration, relaxation, and to decrease levels of stress is empowerment.  

After reading chapter 3 in 21^st Century Yoga, I came to understand what the author was talking about when they discuss how they perfected self-loathing. I wanted to connect this journal with a segment that was written in the book because I feel as if the two are interrelated. After practicing yoga for some years, she said that it was able to completely change her perspective on herself in a positive and uplifting way. She stated that, “my practice taught me how to respect and nurture my body... I moved from disdain and disappointment to gratitude and appreciation” (p.36). Yoga is empowering because it has the ability to change the way we want to see ourselves and to be able to redirect our self-actualization.