Why do so many RAW people do YOGA?

[MusicalRawLady]

Just an observation that I made...what is the connection? Thanks!

[DavidZaneMason]

-Well....the word yoga means union. The standard sorts of Hatha yoga CAN be a very light and healthy form of physical exercise.

-The very process of eating healthy often puts one in touch with a wide variety of emotions and feelings - as well as physical detox symptoms. Yoga can be a wonderful way to facilitate greater health, circulation, and to facilitate moving into those feelings and physical symptomology. It is a great way to be more conscious and more in touch with one's physical frame in a way that is non-impact and very aware. Don't you think?

-David Z. Mason

[Revvell]

I started doing/teaching yoga over 21 years ago. That evolved to doing/teaching qigong/taiji for many more years. I'm still taking qigong classes every Monday night and next Monday a.m., going to a yoga studio.. see if I like the teacher.. and the class/atmosphere. Why? Because it feels good.

Revvell

[barose]

I've been doing Yoga on and off for years (more off than on :rolleyes: ) to help ground myself, improve flexibility and help with an old back injury. Its also great for the core - I had double hernia repair surgery when I was eight and Yoga is ideal for preventing another hernia.

I've recently gotten into AcroYoga to connect with other people and improve my strength and flexibility.

I'm not a spiritual person, so most of the benefits I get from it is physical.

[MusicalRawLady]

I take bellydance lessons at a yoga studio and was thinking of taking them up on their classes.

[dreamrawalwz]

Once raw there seems to be a shift of focus. More mental clarity. More connection with your body, soul, nature, and universal energy. Yoga just seems to be an expansion of that. The world slows down and you're calmer inside. This allows you to meditate and focus more as in yoga.

[PixieLed]

I took yoga classes before I was raw. I was looking for something to help me relax, to destress from my university classes and because I love martial arts and non-western ideas and practices.

Then I learned about raw food and I think it's just all about evolving yourself and becoming a better person on every level, body, mind, spirit... :)

[Eilene]

I did Yoga before Raw. I love, love, love it!! It just makes me feel great mentally & physically. I am also more flexible at age 51 than I have ever been.

[farong suay mak]

I started yoga before raw, but have noticed a major connection to mind, body and spirit now that I am raw.

I practice Bikram yoga now, and I really enjoy it.

:D

[Apasaraw]

I'm not sure if alot of raw people do yoga..or if EVERYONE is just doing yoga right now. :)

I do see the connection...but I don't do yoga. Though I have tried a couple of disciplines and have a yoga instructor for a friend...it doesn't suit me for some reason. Pilates does fit me and I do that and what I call intuitive stretching. I think it's a beautiful thing to see so many people embracing Hatha though!

[Light of an Angel]

Same here. I did yoga before I started raw food diet.

Since eating raw foods I did notice my yoga practice became much deeper, organic, and more meaningful on all levels.

Raw food and yoga go hand in hand for me. I couldn't do one without the other. It is the combination of both that make it complete for me. I do Bikram and Iyengar twice a week as well as my personal practice at home.

Raw foods and yoga are based on the same principles to me. They both deepen body awareness, mental concentration and gentle detoxification of the body.

Plus both just feel soooo good :D

[Stina]

Well, people in my family curl up and get small as they age and I want to age gracefully!

[Raw Mom]

I started yoga over ten years ago.. Started teaching 5 years ago. Turned on to raw about 8 months ago. For me, it was just a natural progression. Peeling the layers. When you are ready for something, you're ready. And not before. Yoga is a wonderful way for me to connect with ME. It has taught me to learn to take that connection out into my everyday world. Everyone is connected. :D

[lalakis]

Im not sure if anyone mentioned this, but both have incredible HEALING powers.

It's about recovering from the trauma of our lives prior to achieving awareness. Un-doing all of the bad things of the past before we were blessed with such knowledge!

Both increase my feelings of being pure...of loving myself..knowing myself.

Physically, yoga keeps you in amazing shape as well. Though at this point, since deepening my practice, that is more like a side-effect of a greater benefit.

Both increase compassion and unbiased love :)

[rawgreenyogini]

Yoga has to be experienced to be understood. We can write all the benefits and ways yoga has touched our individual lives...but you need to experience it for yourself.

Is it really everyone who eats Raw is a yogi or is it the YOGI who becomes Raw??

UMmmm...question to ponder.

I've been practicing yoga for around 5 years now...started before Raw.

[Revvell]

Well, people in my family curl up and get small as they age and I want to age gracefully!

There ya go! If one looks at "old" people, what makes them old? Their chronological age or the fact that they become physically stiff and rigid?

Revvell

[okorolina40]

I have been doing yoga off and on for about ten years. Started after a car accident to relieve back pain, suggested by my massage therapist and chiropractic. For me it is cheaper and more rejuvenative than gym costs, and I feel so alive and more focused. Not to mention has helped raise my arches, improved my breathing and posture, lose weight and tone up all over as well as being flexible and strong. Also I like Pilates, but Yoga makes me calm and keeps me joints really well lubricated. I just started the raw life about 5 months ago and I am more sensitive to changes as I shed lbs and toxins. Not to mention yoga, being raw and raspberry leaf tea/extracts are the only things that have healed my previous "call-in-sick-PMS" symptoms.

I did Yoga before Raw, but I appreciate the awareness even more now that I am raw. I practice Anusara Yoga which I call the Kinesiology Yoga because has totally changed some of my body's biomechanics,lol!

[rawsurfer]

i didnt really even believe in "god" before i went raw, but i am super spiritual and slightly psychic now, 7 months into, and as a direct result of, the amazing energy and happiness that raw has given me. yoga is awesome as well, and i really have gotten into it lately. basically my new life has opened so many doors, with yoga and meditaion being only 2.

[KSGrace]

I have done a little Yoga in the past. I enjoyed it but some of it moved way too fast for me and I did not find it relaxing. Is there a type of yoga that moves slowly and holds the positions longer?

[Revvell]

It always depends on the teacher. Take a Level 1 class... go see the class (if they allow it) before signing up. Each teacher is different. I just took my first today. Weird to me. She rarely looked at the students; no adjusting; major arch in her back (REALLY funny when she says to extend forward with a flat back and she's got that HUGE lower arch); says to extend but not lock out the arms and she's hyper-extended. Glad I know what I know and know how to do what I do.... It's alright then.

Revvell


I have done a little Yoga in the past. I enjoyed it but some of it moved way too fast for me and I did not find it relaxing. Is there a type of yoga that moves slowly and holds the positions longer?

[Raw Mom]

Revvell is right. It all depends on the teacher. I am a trained Kripalu teacher. This style tends to be slower and holds poses longer. But again, the teacher may be teaching another level of Kripalu. Typically, Hatha yoga, is another style that is gentler. The teacher should walk around and adjust you also. Check out their credentials. Peace :)

[Revvell]

Check out their credentials. Peace :)

Credentials don't mean much to me. I taught for years and never had any paper.. and I certainly was more attentive to whom I was teaching than this child this a.m.

One woman was SO excited this teacher was going to sub for another so, it's all about what one is use to, wants, knows and/or expects.

[Eilene]

I belong to a Yoga Center. Although I do have my 2 favorite teachers...they are all very well educated. And yes they will adjust you if you are not doing it the right way. I LOVE Yoga & definitely love it even more since going raw. There is just something about the 2 that go together.