World Peace Day- Yoga in Octagon

Today was 'World Peace Day' and the Octagon was set up for yoga enthusiasts to participate doing 108 sun salutations. I heard of this in Wednesdays yoga class where my instructor was in-charge of organizing this event and it sounded quite interesting to witness. A few of us agreed to come along so I met Frances, Jess, Caroline and Trish in the octagon- neither of us were not sure what to expect, so it was interesting upon arriving to see crowds of people set up with their yoga mats. On an estimate I would say there were 100 people set up in the Octagon to take part in this yoga event.  Personally I had expected more people to turn up and celebrate this event as it was a lovely sunny day however it wasn't meant to be. The atmosphere of this event was great as it was a good chance for people to come together as a community who share a common interest who are passionate and enthusiastic about yoga as it provides people a meaning, purpose and a sense of achievement. Today's session consisted of completing 108 salutations, the organizers had divided these in to four sets, 27 each set. I decided that I would complete one set of salutations. I found the routine completed was very simple, I had initially thought that for each set they would mix up the routine...but no they had kept the routine the same for all 108! A mistake on my part was wearing jeans as I found it hard to fully bend down due to the restriction of wearing these, so in future I will stick to wearing shorts as they are more comfortable and practical!! A general comment afterwards with the others was that you could feel the change in yourself and you felt so relaxed and refreshed, it was great!

Here are some of the pictures from today's yoga session :)

Prior to beginning salutations and listening to speakers

Beginning the salutations

Coming into a standing pose

The pose 'downward dog'

Session Two

Earlier in the week I completed my second session of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, I found the session went relatively fast compared to the previous week. I think this could be that I knew what each of the poses were the same and that we followed a set routine. I found this to be of benefit for myself as I didn't have to consciously think of how to do the pose therefore allowing me to work on the correct breathing...which I found was a vast improvement from last week and I was able to get a better stretch. We did have a new member to the class who was not there last week, other than that there were the same people. I was initially surprised that the class consists of all females, as for some reason I thought there may have been a few males that would want to take this class, clearly I was wrong! 

I find it good having a small class as you are able to focus more and are not easily distracted as if you were in a larger group. All the people in the class are there with the same focus, purpose and with a common goal in mind. The instructor was very helpful, on a few occasions with some of the stretching and standing poses she would help me to get the correct body position- I found this helped as it gave me something to work towards. Whilst doing these yoga poses I am learning to clear my mind and focus on doing the poses. I find the ambiance and environment is very relaxing and peaceful thus impacts on how I perform the poses and also my mindset. Upon doing yoga it is providing me with a sense of control over my body and mind as I am developing skills that I can apply to any situation for example when I'm stressed and need a way to calm down and relax. Personally I am beginning to find yoga very meaningful and therapeutic as it provides me with a challenge and also a sense of achievement upon completion of poses. Both my mind and body felt totally relaxed by the end of the session...bring on next week!!!

Here is a youtube video of some of the Sun salutation poses

 

 Here are some of the benefits that doing Ashtanga Vinyasa bring to an individual

 http://www.moyoga.co.uk/yoga-benefits.html

First session of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

First session of Ashtanga began on Wed 12 Sept from 5.15-6.45pm. I was really looking forward to it, however a bit apprehensive and nervous about what the style of yoga would be, as I have only done  yoga with my Mum before. I arrived at Clubs and Socs with Frances and Louise who are also taking the same class and went up to the Envision Lounge. We arrived early however come 5.15pm there was still no sign of our instructor...I thought this was a little odd considering it was our first session and you think the instructor would be on time. This was not a good first impression for me, thankfully the instructor turned up some 10minutes late!!. In my class there were 8 other people, and I found the instructor to be really friendly and helpful. We set up our yoga mats and listened to the instructor explain what 'Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga' is and her experience teaching yoga. She explained that Ashtanga is a flow of positions that follow a sequence that each session you repeat over and over. She also talked about the mental side of yoga as you forget about your worries. I liked this as one of the many reasons I chose to do this type of yoga was to help clear my mind and put all my worries aside and focus on the task at hand.

Some of the examples of positions we learnt in the first session was: Downward dog, Updog, Balances, Warrior one and warrior two, the crocodile and the hops between poses.  Personally I really enjoyed learning these poses as they were pretty straight forward but I found they sure did test my flexibility. For all that don't know me I am probably not the most flexible person out there as some of the other people in the class have previously had dance backgrounds...so from the word get go that puts me behind! However from this session I am aware of what poses I find a challenge partially the (standing balance) and concentrating on getting the correct pose whilst working on the correct breathing, but least I know what I can improve on in the next few sessions.

At the beginning and end of the session we spent some time 'Omming', to be honest I had no idea why we were doing this and felt a bit uncomfortable. We then finished off the session with 15 minutes of relaxation...during this I almost fell asleep as it was that relaxing!!.