Club Yoga

ThailandTom

How many New Buddhist members practice yoga on a regular basis? Do you have a routine to your practice, a certain 'style' maybe? What positions and techniques do you find most beneficial and lastly, can you hold the tree pose

person

I like doing the 5 tibetans. It takes less than 10 minutes once you're used to them.

She recommends starting with 3 repetitions and adding 2 per week. When I started I did 7 and added 7 per week and that seemed gradual enough. The way I learned them was also in between rites to stand with legs shoulder width apart and hands on hips then take 2 deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

weighted

I practice Kundalini yoga daily. I think yoga and meditation lend themselves very readily to one another.

I can hold tree pose.

The 5 Tibetans are great too, and I sometimes perform them as warm-ups to a lengthier yoga session.

Although I have been wondering, since Kundalini yoga is rooted in mantras and silently saying "sat" on the inhale and "nam" on the exhale, if this is interfering with my meditation practice. I often find myself - likely due to my yoga training - sometimes silently saying "sat" and "nam" instead of counting or just noting "rising" and "falling."

Telly03

I have started recently, but did not know there were different styles, I just showed up to a class and jumped in... I still don't know what style I'm doing, I'll have to ask next class... I'm very much enjoying it though. My favorite part has to be the end when our instructor turns off the lights while we lay on our backs with our legs resting up on the wall... then we just relax and focus on our breaths... sooo relaxing after some intensive work and stretching.

ThailandTom

I basically have just watched a view youtube videos (non buddhist related) on yoga and taken notes and drawings. I found that breathing is very important in yoga, but I have heard that in through the nose and out through the nose also as in nose and out mouth, don't know if it makes much difference.

The thing is with yoga is that you need to keep at it because if you stop for a while, you become stiff again. When I started I was really shocked at how unfit I had become at the age of 23. My body was so stiff and I was getting out of breath doing some of the postures, maybe due to the lack of knowledge of the breathing techniques.

I have also found that it helps with digestion, some postures like the cobra or flexing the abdoman help with it. But then again, so does hula hooping