Hey Nikki, I was introduced to the exercise of yoga as a child with my mom and her sisters...it was fun...my cousins and I would 'rock' the lotus or 'walk' the lotus when we were maybe 6 - 8 years old...sorta turned our mothers away from it when they saw how supple, energetic and experimental about it.

In my teens I started exploring meditiation in search of answers to life and some of the things that I was experiencing, precognitive dreams, clairvoyance, clairaudience and just knowing things - clairsentience...at that time I was practicing yoga Nidra without realizing what it was, knowing intuitively that I would start with a rotation of body awareness and for me that was internal, then setting an intention or goal (sankalpa) losing hours at a time...well time was not measured really.

Then, I sort of buried all of this. There was no one I could talk to about it and when I had things to say people were afraid and stayed away from me...not exactly what a teenager wants...being individual but you still want a group to belong to...after burying this spiritual aspect of myself for years I grounded myself with the physical, studying professional dance in Canada and then teaching group exercise as far away as Germany. I guess going from one extreme to another...

After years of physically abusing my body with dance, group exercise, alchohol you name it as well as running from my true self I developed and Irritable Bowel Disorder and that brought me back to meditation as I was no longer physically able to get out of my home. That returned me to what I was doing in my teens and now there are many more books, so I have spent the past 5 years or so getting back to where I was and learning that what I was doing intuitively had been around for ages. I incorporated more relaxed yoga than what I had added to my fitness classes - I was always flexible so I kept that strong suit...after two years of research and experimentation on myself I had the IBD under control, had faced the bad relationship I had with food, made more constructive eating habits, stopped binge drinking, and with Yoga Nidra, I am now smoke free...I have learned to deal appropriately with stress and have a healthier relationship with myself and the world around me.

Now, I teach what I have learned through experience and my journey continues. I have found that Kriya Yoga is a great help with my Reiki practice and Yoga Nidra helps my clients relax and be more receptive to the energies of the universe. I have taken my journey from spirit to physical and back and understand so much more about life and the ease in which it can be lived.

Every day is a blessing and with continued exploration I find many of the things that I ran away from are returning and I am meeting people that appreciate them and more importantly just accept them as part of who I am...they are not anymore than what others have within, it is just removing the boundaries that we all have to uncover that which we all are...I long for the light and strive forward to be one with it and it with me....that's what the return journey has brought to me though the return was for reasons of health.

May all find their path to light!

T

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Nikki, thank you so much for starting this thread.  I enjoyed reading everyones posts.  My own experience is very similar to everyone elses.

My husband was in seminary when I started yoga.  I have always been involved in aerobics and dance.  I started doing pilates because some friends of mine who are dancers recommended it to me.  My reasons for exercising was mainly due to vanity and the need to feel better.

I accidently found yoga while I was flipping through my TV one morning.  Rodney Yee and his morning show.  I was curious and attempted to follow along.  At this same time I was developing a friendship (she is now my best friend) with a woman who was from India and was Hindu.  It so happened that I was interested in meditation and was reading a couple of books on Hinduism and Buddhism.  I was fascinated with India and began asking her questions about yoga and so forth. She wasn't really into yoga, but her sister teaches it in India.

Yoga started out as another routine to my weekly exercises.  Then, something wonderful happened.  Yoga became physical prayer.  I wanted to learn more, do more.  I no longer do it for vain reasons.  Now I yearn to do yoga so that I can feel balanced and intune with nature, my surrounds, living in the moment.

Life keeps tossing me about, but I am learning to breathe into the moment. 

 [ send green star]

I started yoga 7 years ago after bunion surgery with a friend; the workshop was Yoga for Stress Reduction.  I loved it and continued; she didn't, but we're still friends. 

The benefits of yoga have overflowed into my every day life;  not only am I more fit, I am more compassionate, more patient, so many mores.....

I have started on my yoga teaching certification; I have finished my bachelor's degree; I have a regular meditation and yoga practice.   

I cannot imagine my life without yoga.

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Curiosity started me off.

Now I am learning about my own body, and this enables me to understand others bodies.

Then I am in a better position to help others.

 [ send green star]  [ accepted]

I was a fat kid, tending to prefer reading to physical motion.  We were in a Hippy School and our elementary teacher tought yoga.   I remember every morning being frustrated...my friends could do forward bends and all this other stuff...not me

AND THEN I FOUND THE SOLUTION

I was listening to AM radio and the preacher said that Yoga led to posession by DEMONS!!!!

So I told the school it was against my religion to do yoga.  They laughed, but accepted my position.   I got to read and not do yoga....I regretted it even then, but never swallowed my pride to rejoin.

Next year we had it again and I didn't object.  We practiced Yoga, meditation and many other disciplines, such as visualization. 

Then I went to the public school system and didn't do yoga for 20 years.   I started back again at a gym.  I had been practicing martial arts and it was like finding an old friend.

Now I practice almost every day.

My back is straight, I am more aware of my body, I kno how to heal myself and cure almost any muscular twinge or ache.

My volatility is somewhat lessoned, as is the ego I have carried since age 10

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

my odyssey with this is still pretty new .... i have been going to classes off and on for about two years now, but the timing was such that it was difficult to be consistent.

since the beginning of menopause, i've lived with an all-consuming insomnia that seldom let me sleep more than six hours, even with prescription medications or a combination of herbs, melatonin and benadryl.

three weeks ago, something - i'll never be sure what - moved me enough to do a half hour of yoga followed by a half hour of meditation at about 7 p.m.  i fell asleep by 9:30 that night and slept straight through 'til 5:30 the next morning, and it's been pretty consistent since then.  next, i'll try to start weaning off the meds, but at the moment, sleeping normally is so delicious after a ten year hiatus that i can't begin to tell you...it even spills over into those nights that i can't practice....

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Yesterday reaffirmed for me why I started yoga - to find balance.

I haven't been practicing daily and I can feel the difference.  Work has been stressful, a new home, new state,  new school for the kids, fiancial stuff, trying to sell my house - I just didn't practice yoga because these things had to be dealt with.  Yesterday I let it go and made time to practice and it was well worth.  I let go.

Today has been much better.  It's still stressful, but I am looking forward to practicing yoga when I get home.

 [ send green star]

All of the posts on this topic speak to me about the reasons I started yoga and what carries over from my practice into my daily life.

My father-in-law just passed away after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.  My place on my mat helped me to deal with what I was feeling as I watched him fade and it also helped me to be there for him and the rest of my family. 

After 7 plus years, I can't imagine not doing yoga; the benefits to every part of my existence continue to surprise and amaze me.

 [ send green star]  [ accepted]

Hi all

yoga is so good for me and everyone I reccomend everyone to do. Well I started about 2 years ago I have bi-polar and have a fused neck with alot of pain and bad back and was stressed well mostly all is gone yoga is my medication now for everything I even have more movment in my neck. and mood swings are much better. In my heart where ever it oriniated from I'm so thankful with such an attitude of grattitude.

everyone have a good day.

peace, love & light

T E M P L E

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Thought, a little bit of something to participate, partly from the Web, sure, but at the risk, what am writing here probably doubtless has been said and posted, just often.

...As we all know, yoga is aimed to unite the body and the spirit. Yogis view that the mind and the body are one, and that if it is given the right tools and taken to the right environement, it can find harmony and heal itself. Yoga therefore is considered therapeutic. It helps you become more aware of your body´s posture, alignment and patterns of movement. It makes the body more flexible and helps you relax even in the midst of a stress stricken environment. This is one of the foremost reasons why people are into yoga, they feel fitter. Yoga revives the mechanism of the body, and so, one´s more cheerful.

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Even as a young child I was drawn to yoga, being from a conservative middle class family in N.J. it wasn't readily available. When my family moved to S.C. when I was in jr. high, a friend told me about seeing yoga on tv and I was still intrigued - obviously , remembering this one lunchline conversation to this day.

Later as a young adult, I was turned off by the "airy fairy" approach most people took to it -- "breathe deep, feel the universe turn...."  yeah right.

Then...after the birth of my third child, I was surfing tv and saw Rodney Yee teaching some introductory asanas, and practiced along. He was casual and attractive - hmm....

After that, I found Steve Ross on the tv and loved his irreverent style. I percieved the truth of his actions and appreciated the humor in his words. - what fun is anything wiyhout humour - His work out was strenuous and his class showed many levels of mobility. I became addicited. Practiced every day, became more flexible than ever and discovered a great buzz went with it! As I've alwasys been drawn to altered states.....this was my ticket.  

As my life has been thru so many many changes in the past 8 years, it's a constant place for me to go....to be....to maintain perspetive and a link to the all.

Namaste  

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

I really honestly started for fitness reasons. Initially I noticed if I practiced yoga I wouldn't have any pain in my body.
Now after 5 years (and discovering Kum Nye yoga) my practice has become my greatest passion and love.
Because I practice Kum Nye I am able to offer the best of myself. Everyone in life can benefit more, and I feel I can contribute more to whatever I focus on. Honestly there is just more to contribute.
To quote the first Kum Nye book:
 " Our awareness gives us the freedom to take charge of our lives, not in a fourceful or grasping way, but with confidence. We then naturally do what is appropriate and beneficial, and function in a positive way in the world. We realize that ideas and actions which result in stability and happiness for ourselves contribute also to the harmony of the world around us. "

As I practice, my understanding of the truth of this statement continues to deepen. In my perception this concept is immeasurably vast.

Om Ah Hung

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

i used to practise meditation at a buddhist org Tuesday evening. One day i tired about these people say women are inferior and i speak up they not happy. i found a yoga class nearby same time and the teacher is very good and her class is very enlighten. It is perfect study for me allow i continue my spiritual path after i gained insight in zen. All is perfect and i guided by both by grace and my heart. I am always at right place at right time

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

The first time I ever learned meditation was when I was 10 years old. I had terrible stress-induced headaches and was taught my first meditation technique by my psychologist. It really helped me to cope with and ease the pain. I was introduced to the asanas of yoga in my very early teens, via my aunt’s yoga videos. Throughout my teenage years I practiced on and off. The physical and philosophical practices always seem to reenter my life. By my late teens I practiced almost every day.... a couple years or so ago I began teacher trainings so that I could share the practice with others and it's been wonderful! It has improved my posture,  daily aches, muscle tone, flexibility, my ability to cope with stress, my disposition, and more! It continues to better my life and I love being able to help others in their practice  

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

All these different reasons for finding yoga are amazing & beautiful.

I first found yoga about 5 years ago. I didn't practice regularly and only really thought of it from a fitness point. The spirituality aspect never hit me until one day I felt a class feeling balanced, happy, full of life and energy. I was alive. Yoga is a way for me to calm by mind and just breathe. It is excellent for grounding, making me time & feeling connected to Mother Earth. It is also an excellent practice for stress relief, I appreciate everything more and I'm definately never depressed. On days when I don't do yoga, I often feel lost and remember why I am lost. Yoga is the light in my day and I'm beginning to build a solid practice because I want this to be a regular and amazing part of my life.

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]