I have done Yoga before in 5th and 6th grade in my previous school. I didn’t mind doing it but didn’t understand it’s purpose. As I previously mentioned, I joined Yoga & Meditation to increase my flexibility. However this time my motivation to join was also from the fact that I like meditating but I can never make time for it. This activity has allowed me to do so. Due to my previous experience in Yoga (LO1) I thought that I would still be almost as flexible as before although it was 5 years ago. Furthermore, in grade 8 we had a few meditation sessions which I enjoyed quite a lot. I also noticed that my attention then was very good and I could zone out my external environment to focus on myself.
So far we’ve done the sun salutation as well as 4 chakras. Specifically the root chakra (connected to the spine) made me realise that I have become a lot less flexible from when I was younger. This is because I used to be able to do the Malasana pose whereas I find it difficult now. However I am trying to push myself little by little every class so that I don’t hurt myself but still put in as much effort as I’m able to, so that I can increase my flexibility.
I’ve noticed myself using one of the techniques outside of the activity. Theres a breathing technique that allows one to clear their breathing passage way and to regain some focus / calm their body down called Pranayama. I’ve recently used this technique when I had a cold and it helped me clear my passage. Furthermore, when I can’t concentrate on a task or my homework I just take a few minutes to do this small exercise to focus again. Just by doing this I’m noticing the benefits of the activity more as the flexibility and movement of my body is helping me with my other activity which is Muay Thai. I think they go hand in hand as in Muay Thai you need to be able to move a lot which Yoga helps me with.
However as I have mentioned, I’ve done yoga 5 years ago so I don’t remember much. Due to this I think I’m developing fairly new skills. (LO2) Apart from the flexibility I’m also finding the meditation a bit challenging. This is because my mind wanders off quite a lot since the activity is at the end of the day after all my classes. My mind starts thinking about my homework and other unrelated topics. Due to this it’s sometimes hard to concentrate on the meditation. One thing that I’ve tried to do is just let my thoughts go until I break out of it instead of forcefully bring myself back. I’ve found that more successful as I find myself relaxing more in comparison to forcing it.
Overall, I think that neither flexibility nor meditation skills are going to be easy to develop as they both require different parts of me. However meditation is a bit easier to work on as I have a strong self-discipline in comparison to physical abilities.
