What changes have you noticed?

[Bethany]

So we are a third of the way through an amazing tranformative month of daily yoga practice and I want to know... what changes have you noticed-in your body, your mind, your spirit, your life? Here are a few of mine:
1. You hear it all of the time but it's the truth, my lower back pain is so much better. And I can lift my 50-70 pound students in and out of their wheelchairs so much more easily.
2. At first I wasn't sleeping at all, like all of the yoga had me too pumped up, but now I'm sleeping really well at night.
3. I sweat like never before! I've always done hot power yoga, and I got sweaty before, but now it's like all of my sweat glands just opened up and went into hyper drive-I pour sweat!
4. I feel calmer, more patient and more loving in generally. I have more patience and I think more clearly before I act. Some great thoughts from my instructors over the past 10 days:
"Don't waste your energy on things that aren't important, it's a waste of energy."
"You know when you're doing what's right for your life without asking anyone else, just like you know what's right for your body in yoga class without looking at what everyone else is doing."
5. My biggest distraction during my practice now is trying to remember things to tell all of you about in this blog. Not that I usually post any of it, but my internal dialogue is directed to all of you!
Namaste

[YogaLaura]

What a great question, Bethany! Interestingly, I think my biggest shift is letting go of even more judgment around what a practice is (it doesn't have to be 90 minutes of uninterrupted mat time -- a rarity when you have small children). Plus, I appreciate so much more what I am already doing. I do a couple brief practices throughout the day (early morning, breathing, japa, and meditation; afternoon is asana; and evening is a few asanas, more meditation and Savasana) I plan to do all three and usually get to two. Since they are brief, I sometimes "forget" I did them. Taking the time to write it down each day helps me appreciate what I am already doing.

[Nona Jordan]

I agree with Laura, writing it down helps me appreciate what I have time to do. It makes me more aware of my practice, which brings my on the mat practice more fully into my life. It's a beautiful circle, really. What a great question!

[SeaStar]

I find that writing about my practice is positive and cathartic. Even when practice is not exactly as I had wanted it to be, I can always find something positive in it. Because I practice at home, it's comforting to know I have "company" in all the others on here practicing.

I am definitely more patient and postitive throughout the day. This is something I am always mindful to strive for but I haven't had to strive as much lately.

Of course, there is the obvious strength of body that gives me more confidence in the way I move about my day.

Great question. It helps me realize that there has been a difference.

[Chris]

My posture during everyday standing and walking is better. I often think about alignment and stretching my back up. Because of this, I'm spending a lot more time with my head up instead of looking towards the ground. I'm seeing the people around me more, smiling more, connecting more. That's the change I like the best.

[Ovidia]

Changes for me:
1) Practice Time: Before WoYoPracMo, if I ever missed morning mysore, I would just spend the rest of the day giving myself little mental knocks for being lazy to make sure I made it the next morning... usually I was on the mat by 6.30 or 6.45 am...
Now if I don't make mysore class, I do a home practice or a Yin practice...

2) What's Yoga: Before WoYoPracMo, if it wasn't almost 2 hours of Ashtanga it wasn't a practice (I know, I am anal-retentive & OCD... was, rather!)
Now: Yin practice counts. I have just got a dvd of Doug Swenson & will try that... just to see.

3) Before: when sick I just work around the body parts that are down, because I'm afraid that if I give myself time off, the rest of my body will grab the chance to fall apart too--
Now: I've discovered I can treat my whole body more gently and heal it as a whole and yes, it responds as a whole

4) Before: Ashtanga = Yoga
Now : Yoga = Ashtanga (which I still love) + so much more!

[Jen]

Great topic!

I find that I am not as affected by cold which I imagine is due to increased circulation. Or better detachment. Or it could be my age and I've started having hot flashes! We are in freezing temps here and I even put the windows of my car down when usually I'd have the heat blasting and the heated seats and hat and gloves and hot tea...

My shoulders and hips have opened up noticeably over the past year. My range of motion is further in twists and bends. The hamstrings are still, shall we say, resistant. Oddly, balances are tougher for me now. Either a) I have better form and am not cheating by locking joints, etc. or b) the increased flexibility needs to be balanced with more strength or c) it's all in my head or d) all of the above or e) none of the above.

Laughter! I laugh more! I always laugh alot and often in stressful situations but now even more so and in stressful situations it is sometimes my only reaction. I think this might be disconcerting to my friends and coworkers when they are genuinely distressed about something and I just laugh because, really, it's out of our control.

This blog forces me to think about my practice differently. In most ways this is positive because of the attention and observation and the sharing community. In other ways I think it can easily be a distraction or become about my ego and what I'm going to write.

I find myself wanting to talk to everyone about yoga and prescribe it for all ills. (This is such a great and true phrase and I stole it from an article, maybe Yoga Journal?, about becoming a teacher). I try to control this a little as, frankly, not everyone cares and if I get too 'moonbeamy' it will freak some people out. But, man, everything does, like, relate back to yoga, it is so cosmic and cool and trippy, man!

[Yogamum]

My big lessons:
A little yoga every day is better than no yoga at all.
A little yoga every day is better than a long practice once a week.
Yoga makes other people less annoying ;-)
Yogis/yoginis are AWESOME people.

And something Elizabeth Gilbert said -- re. writing "Eat Pray Love" -- if you know you are going to write about something, you tend to "show up" for the experience and observe it a bit more closely.

I find that really applies to my yoga practice these days!

[YogaLaura]

You are so funny! I think yoga for me makes me see people as less annoying, too!

[YogaLaura]

I want to addend my comment. Something has changed. I am much more committed to my morning practice. I am not sure I would be getting up extra early on my extra early mornings if it wasn't for knowing I was going to blog about it. I just know it will be easier came February to stay dedicated to it. Thank you for something else, Yogamum!

[Anamika]

this may sound really weird but when I have a period of deep yoga practices, i find that my power to wordlessly manifest what i want increases. in very small ways. as in i'll be thinking that i want to do a particular pose (not a common one) and the teacher will bring up that pose in class that very day. (context: i go to vinyasa classes so this is by no means a given). or get good adjustments etc.
don't have a good explanation for this.
no lottery wins or such though. i'm not sure that my subconsious is sufficiently focused on wanting these sorts of things. misaligned priorities ;-)

[Lauri]

Wow, that's really powerful! I like that ...

[Lauri]

Definitely a great question at this point of the journey!

I think what most amazes me is how relatively easy it is to make yoga a real part of my life. I thought it would be a chore, like flossing my teeth, but it seems to power up my mornings when I practice first thing, smooth out long days if I incorporate small mini-practices as often as I can, and help my body and my mind power back down at night.

And physically, combined with renewed commitment to eating more sanely post-holidays, I have definitely seen and felt changes. I've lost weight, I feel much stronger through my core and my arms, and I am finally making some peace with my S.I. joints.

Some days it just feels like being in love!