The Official Kiwi Yoga Thread - For all discussion related to yoga, barre, pilates or other studio fitness activities

[Madame Souza]

I couldn't find a similar thread and thought it would be nice to start one in case there's interest. Potential topics: time practicing, favorite asana, normal vs. hot, Bikram vs. heated vinyasa, personal goals and recent wins; recommendations on how to find a good studio; whether or not white and/or Western women are ruining yoga by doing yoga; the best gear, etc.

 

[Madame Souza]

I personally started hot vinyasa yoga recently after attending barre classes for a year-ish and I'm feeling that ol' neurodivergent "special interest" feeling flaring up. If I wasn't too vain to make my hair look perpetually awful by washing it every day, I'd be doing it every day. Might have to find a way to mitigate the frizz soon as I'm finding myself dying to go on the days I don't and obsessively reading everything I can find on it (lotta pseudoscience and other insane stuff related to yoga on the internet, unfortunately, but they're all good for a laugh).

I'm also considering trying out a Bikram studio here soon, but it kind of sounds torturous in a bad way. Am I wrong?

 

[glow]

Bikram is great, I like that it's always the same sequence every time, it helps with concentration as the heat of the room is very hard to handle (for me). The hardest poses are at the start, so after you've charged through the first dozen or so it's all ground work, so it helps with pacing. I struggle with yoga when I don't know how long the given pose or sequence will go on for and whether I should just take a break or continue to push through to the next point, so Bikram worked for me nicely, and was a great complement to weight lifting. Sadly I was unable to find a good local studio after I moved and electricity prices make it unlikely that new ones will start up (t. europoor lol)

 

[Madame Souza]

Bikram is great, I like that it's always the same sequence every time, it helps with concentration as the heat of the room is very hard to handle (for me). The hardest poses are at the start, so after you've charged through the first dozen or so it's all ground work, so it helps with pacing. I struggle with yoga when I don't know how long the given pose or sequence will go on for and whether I should just take a break or continue to push through to the next point, so Bikram worked for me nicely, and was a great complement to weight lifting. Sadly I was unable to find a good local studio after I moved and electricity prices make it unlikely that new ones will start up (t. europoor lol)

What a bummer, I hope they open a new good one! It didn't occur to me before now that the heated studios do probably have very high power bills, but yeah makes sense. You made bikram sound more appealing than many do, maybe everyone who tried it and hated it is just extra vocal about it? Most studios do a cheap or free first class, so might as well try

 

[std::string]

whether or not white and/or Western women are ruining yoga by doing yoga

This is a whole weird thing.

Those asanas? Swedish exercise physiologist teaches gymnastic routines to British soldiers, who then got stationed in India. Vivekananda packaged that up for the physical side when he introduced yoga to the west and then leaned heavily on European theosophy for the philosophical side.

It's weird when Indians talk about reclaiming yoga because this shit's a mutt anyway.

 

[glow]

You made bikram sound more appealing than many do, maybe everyone who tried it and hated it is just extra vocal about it? Most studios do a cheap or free first class, so might as well try

I like to push myself hard so perhaps it's just my personality. It's definitely not for everyone.

Also the guy who invented it is worthy of his own thread on this site for his exceptional behavior so this is another reason it is not liked. This is why you often see studios with the name 'hot yoga' even though he has given up the right to the 'bikram yoga' trademark. Of course this makes it hard to find actual Bikram classes.

Also, I forgot to mention the best thing also - there's no downwards facing dog in Bikram. I hate that pose so much, I wish it wasn't guaranteed to be in every class above beginner level.

 

[Auron]

Yoga has always interested me conceptually - but Im an incredibly unathletic overweight guy. I tried it a couple of times and I just abosutley suck at it. My body cant do any of the simple poses and I feel like I'm constantly doing it wrong.

 

[glow]

Yoga has always interested me conceptually - but Im an incredibly unathletic overweight guy. I tried it a couple of times and I just abosutley suck at it. My body cant do any of the simple poses and I feel like I'm constantly doing it wrong.

If it was easy, would it be exercise?

If you commit to doing this every day then in time it will get better. Perhaps find a class online and repeat the same video over and over for a week or two - what I struggle with is the mental side of the endurance of holding poses, so if I know what's coming I can be better prepared to handle it. This might help you. Don't worry about your body type, sounds like precisely the body type that needs yoga to me.

Yoga however does not burn tons of calories so you should also investigate your diet. A low carb diet and yoga (or any kind of exercise) could change your life.

 

[East_Clintwood]

Yoga has always interested me conceptually - but Im an incredibly unathletic overweight guy. I tried it a couple of times and I just abosutley suck at it. My body cant do any of the simple poses and I feel like I'm constantly doing it wrong.

I'm in a kinda similar position. While not overweight my body is absolutely fucking wrecked from various accidents/injuries, hence why yoga was suggested to me in the first place) At first I could only do the most basic bitch shit(not that I can do much more now), and even then I couldn't do them for long at all, and after a few minutes I was in agony. However it's a lot like any other exercise, the more you do it the easier it really does get.

For me what helped once I found the system I liked was setting myself a small goal. My goal was just simple shit like do 5 minutes a day, escalating to 6 then 7 then 8 etc. If I didn't think I could increase the time I'd instead do something like pick a pose I'm not good at and challenge myself to hold if for progressively longer increments 10 seconds, then 20, then 30. The key to yoga, or indeed any exercise is getting the routine going, maintaining routines is definitely easier than starting new ones, which is why I went slow, and used the little challenges to trick my stupid monkey brain into accepting I'm making progress.

 

[Septictic]

A lot of these yoga things seem to require an all-knowing and all-powerful teacher, and the lucky students get to pay a lot of money and never master the thing. For years they go to classes, and get corrected (by the same teachers). Perhaps the point of yoga is the social aspect? It's nice to be spiritual, but a living guru will always be a disaster for everyone. And just filled to the brim with dogma. If you see wih your third eye and listen to the sound unstruck, you will not be born again. Of that there is no doubt.

 

[Auron]

If it was easy, would it be exercise?

If you commit to doing this every day then in time it will get better.

However it's a lot like any other exercise, the more you do it the easier it really does get.

Okay thanks guys. For some reason I was viewing it more like mediation expecting to be able to get to grips with it fairly quickly.
I'll try again and set my sights much lower. Thanks for the encouragement

 

[Aiōn]

I do yoga by myself at home, I started to improve my hip flexibility so I could achieve a middle split.

I haven't learned any of the proper posture names but I can do a one-legged King Pigeon now and I have begun working on my back flexibility in hopes to achieve a King Cobra.

 

[SirCliveSinclairdabbing]

I just want to grill and do sun salutations twice a day to stretch my back and legs. I can't find a basic guide that says do this, then that, then that, now repeat until content. All I can find is grifters after money. Any help?

 

[ShapelyMutton]

I just want to grill and do sun salutations twice a day to stretch my back and legs. I can't find a basic guide that says do this, then that, then that, now repeat until content. All I can find is grifters after money. Any help?

You're out of luck as far as I know. I was in the same boat for a while until I finally bit the bullet and went to some free classes near me. You just have to do you best to ignore all the bullshit

 

[Saddam Hussain Obama]

Yoga Pants are the best part about Yoga

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

I took a Yoga class in college and it was pretty brutal at first even though I'm very fit and active, part of the problem is that I'm always doing things that make my flexibility worse like running and lifting weights. But stretching also will help me run and lift better, so it was worth pushing through the difficult start.
I need to do proper Yoga more often but I do try and stretch my back, neck, and legs often.

 

[Cum Laudely]

It's unfortunate not many people do yoga here, it's so good. Having muscle is nice and all but having limited mobility sucks. Yoga makes moving around so much easier. I thought of doing classes but stuck with YouTube videos. Livinleggings has great non thirst trap videos. Tom Merrick also helped me get started. I just recently found Lizzie Brooks over a cool yoga trick. I want to do the real hard Vinyasa movements but still got more weight to lose. I'm also trying to do king Pigeon pose but I'm not sure if it's even possible at my size. I think I'm fated to do banded king pigeon only. My thighs are 28in and calves 20in with a 46.5in chest. My chest is actually small for my size since I severely neglect chest workouts but point being I'm not sure someone with my measurements is even meant to do some of these poses. Still working towards despite being stuck in mobility rut.

Spoiler: Pigeon Pose Trick

https://youtu.be/7OtT8AC4IXI

 

[Madame Souza]

I just want to grill and do sun salutations twice a day to stretch my back and legs. I can't find a basic guide that says do this, then that, then that, now repeat until content. All I can find is grifters after money. Any help?

Are you looking for pictorial-type things or videos?

It's unfortunate not many people do yoga here, it's so good. Having muscle is nice and all but having limited mobility sucks. Yoga makes moving around so much easier. I thought of doing classes but stuck with YouTube videos. Livinleggings has great non thirst trap videos. Tom Merrick also helped me get started. I just recently found Lizzie Brooks over a cool yoga trick. I want to do the real hard Vinyasa movements but still got more weight to lose. I'm also trying to do king Pigeon pose but I'm not sure if it's even possible at my size. I think I'm fated to do banded king pigeon only. My thighs are 28in and calves 20in with a 46.5in chest. My chest is actually small for my size since I severely neglect chest workouts but point being I'm not sure someone with my measurements is even meant to do some of these poses. Still working towards despite being stuck in mobility rut.

Spoiler: Pigeon Pose Trick

https://youtu.be/7OtT8AC4IXI

I think you should still consider taking classes if it’s an option! You can absolutely do it at home like you’re doing and it’s still good, but a fair amount of yoga instructors are pretty good at what they do and can help with adjustments and the like. Also, if you do heated classes, I bet it will help with the weight. I’ve seen a few people lose weight in almost real time over a few months of a couple classes a week. It sucks at first, but super addicting after the first few.

I feel like people on the Farms might skew towards being anti-woo—which i am as well—and there is quite a lot of woo that piggybacks off yoga, but yoga itself isn’t woo and i think everyone could benefit from it

 

[SirCliveSinclairdabbing]

Are you looking for pictorial-type things or videos?

I'm happy with either.
Curious how the breathing patterns tie in with various stages, I know that matters.

 

[Aiōn]

Stopped doing yoga for a while but I'm getting back into it, I've lost a few lbs so I'll probably work towards some more complex weight-bearing poses, just taking things slowly for now.

I've been trying to do at least 15 minutes or so in the sunshine, I have a Yoga Design Lab Infinity mat that I love way too much so I bought a cheapish one for use outside.