Fourteenth Meditation

Today in my psych class we did something very interesting. We went downstairs to the first floor and did yoga in the weight room!

We all went downstairs to the weight room where Mrs. Gabriellie was waiting for us and she led us to the yoga room in the back. We each pulled out a yoga mat, took off our shoes and sat down facing her. The yoga room was dimly lit, setting a calm and relaxing mood in the room. The first thing we did as a class was lie flat on our backs and breathe in with our nose and back out through the nose. The sensation made me feel so relaxed that i closed my eyes and felt my "third eye" tensing for focus. It was incredible how fast I was able to go into the relaxed state of mind. We started to do basic yoga poses like the child's pose which really stretched out my back muscles and my arms. We later moved on to simpler stretches with keeping the shoulder blades down to the floor and moving our knees to the side of our body. We also did downward dog, the sun salutation and the crow which only some people were able to do because of it being hard to balance with that pose. We had to use our upper body strength and balance ourselves while holding our legs in mid air in a bent position. I was happy when I was able to do it.

While we were doing our poses, Mrs. Gabriellie told us repeatedly to concentrate on our breathing as we go through each pose to keep the oxygen flowing to our tired muscles. This helped us stretch a little bit further each time. As I was breathing, I kept thinking about going through the motions and feeling the stretch from my fingers to my toes. The feeling was absolutely amazing because I was staying mindful about my actions and truly appreciating everything that my body was going through, pain, relaxation and the keeping the oxygen flowing through my blood. 

While we were posing and breathing, Mrs. gabriellie also played some soft music to get us all in the mindset of relaxation and help us retain our focus throughout the workout. I could feel some parts of my body getting tense and shaking as the workout went on, but after a little bit I was able to find my balance. At the end of this workout, my body felt loose and I felt incredible. I was able to focus in math class and retain a lot more energy and feel a lot less stressed out. I would love to make yoga a part of my life.
Overall this experience for me made me think of yoga and mindfulness at a much deeper level and make me think about the levels I must go through with the 8 limbs of yoga to truly achieve a state of bliss.