We have just started an 8-week yoga course, with the focus on using the yoga to grow stronger.
And the same yoga will help us grow more flexible, breathe with more focus and calm our minds.

For beginners, and always accommodating more advanced yogis, the course will progress over the 8 weeks, taking someone who has never done yoga before, and at the end of the 8 weeks, that student will present as a competent yogi. And we always think of strength as bulging muscles and a ripped, lean look. But being strong means you are able to use your body easily in a variety of circumstances so that you can enjoy all of the activities you want to do. And because yoga uses multiple muscle groups at once, most postures have the potential of using your entire body. A strong, flexible body with a good core tone stabilises you and gives you better balance and posture, all of which can help prevent falls, decrease back pain, and keep you mobile as you get older. It also allows you to enjoy your other fun pastimes, be it running, mountain biking, weight training or digging in the garden; you’ll have more endurance and less chance of getting injured. 

It’s common knowledge that the yogis of old used to measure the youth of a student as to how flexible their spine was, the posture of that student and how they moved through space, the ability of that student to balance and if that student still had all their faculties: sight, hearing, smell, taste and mind. And the key to having this youthful body and mind was a strong, supported spine. Even though we think of the spine as one of the primary supporting structures for our body, it is also the basis of our individual consciousness, as the nerve cells within the spine carry all the nerve signals that are required to sustain our waking and dreaming and sleeping states of being. Your spine is living tissue, and it rejuvenates itself by constantly breaking down and rebuilding.

Yoga is a whole-body pastime. The movements are dynamic, flowing and require core strength. The core is the centre of our body, and it functions to stabilise the trunk while the arms and legs move during functional movements. The core is a box structure made up of the abdominal muscles in the front and the sides, the paraspinal and gluteal muscles at the back, the diaphragm at the roof, and the pelvic floor and the hip girdle muscles as the floor. The abdominal muscles create a rigid cylinder around the spine during movement and provide stability. 

It’s going to be a fun 8 weeks, and as winter progresses, we’ll notice a huge difference in our bodies, growing stronger each week. 

Margot Wagner
 Yoga Under the Bodhi Tree

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