Summer yoga classes are coming to an end this week. I have given students the opportunity to reflect back over the session and share some of their experience of the process of yoga in their bodies and minds on this blog if they wish. I would like to thank all of the students who joined me in creating yoga this quarter.
Kristin:)
I've taken a yoga-related exercise class before, but not an actual yoga class - if that makes any sense. So I was familiar with all of the positions, but not the more relaxed environment. I have to say, I looked forward to coming to yoga in evening as a way to relax and center myself at the end of the day. That aspect of yoga I really enjoyed.
ReplyDeletePhysically, I'm not the most flexible person and I have a lot of tension in my upper back, but many of those stretches - especially the shoulder stretches combined with the breathing techniques - have allowed me to release some of that tension.
So overall I really enjoyed yoga, and I will continue to do it in the future. I'm in a military-prep PT program and yoga stretches are a perfect compliment to ease sore muscles.
Thanks teaching our yoga class. In the future if I have the opportunity to take another, I will!
This was my first experience of yoga, and interesting. I have leaned many kinds of postures. After taking this class, I feel like more relax and refresh. This is because yoga provides us unique breath and stretching body without any pain. I think yoga maintains our body condition as well. At beginning of the class, I could not make many postures because I was not flexible enough. After several classes, I could get most of postures. I believe that my body became more flexible than before. The good thing about yoga is not stressful exercise. I do not have to compete with others. Just relax. No tension. I am graduating after this quarter, and will go back to Japan. I will keep continuing yoga in Japan, and teach yoga poses to my girl friend to try it together. This class was very enjoyable. Thank you for teaching our yoga class.
ReplyDeleteI was encouraged to take a yoga class by my college advisor at CWU, who highly recommended Kristin as an instructor. My first thought was I was too old to join a yoga class, and my second thought was my body would probably be too stiff to make all those flexible moves! Boy, was I wrong on both counts!
ReplyDeleteI began this experience on June 23, 2011. Classes met once a week on Thursday evenings from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Raw Space in downtown Ellensburg, WA. Kristin was our yoga instructor. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, and Kristin readily put me at ease by her soft-spoken voice.
Before we would begin our lesson, Kristin would check in with us as a class to find out if anyone had any recent injuries or surgeries that would prevent them from participating. Each class began with bringing our thoughts to the present and being mindful of what was going on around us. We then went through a series of breathing exercises to get us warmed up. We steadily went through different exercises focusing on different parts of our body, starting from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We did several stretching and balancing exercises. Kristin was very careful in making sure we did not push our limits, and we did not have to participate in a particular exercise if it was too difficult or uncomfortable.
With the combination of Kristin's voice and the background yoga music, I was able to focus completely in the moment. I found myself relaxing quite quickly, and was able to deliberately monitor my breathing. I could feel the muscles in my body slowing relax from the tight tension they were in prior to the class.
By the end of the class, my body felt like jello. I was surprised at how agile I was during all of the exercises, but was careful to not over do things. After class, I felt really energized and focused. I took advantage of that and worked on school work. I found I was able to sleep much better and deeper than I typically do any other night. The next day, I could feel the workout in my muscles and in my insides. They really got a workout. I did notice though how rested I felt in the morning after my yoga class.
Summer session at college can be a bit of a mad rush, however I always looked forward to going to yoga class, because it helped me tremendously by bring down my stress level and by generally making me feel alive and well. I look forward to taking the next level of yoga class with Kristin some time in the future.
Thank you for teaching the class Kristin. I will definitely encourage others to take it too. Have a great summer!
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ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that when I enrolled, I was expecting to get anything much in the way of benefits from six weeks of yoga. I suppose I anticipated that I would develop bit more flexibility, and possibly learn the names of some interesting contorted body positions. You see, I didn't really have any experience with yoga. I must admit that the very strict fundamentalist culture I was raised in considered yoga practice to be a satanic activity. It was a very serious taboo. What I have experienced in yoga has been such a deep moving and yet gentle surprise.
ReplyDeleteI was raised in a terribly abusive environment, one which necessitated developing long term dissociation to survive. The abuse spanned physical, sexual, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Events in my early adulthood initiated a marriage where many of those abuses continued, as did, the long term dissociation. I had only a brief few years during my teens when I lived away from my family that I was able to contemplate personal ownership of my body. The last couple of years I have been on a personal journey. I have found the strength to leave the abusers behind and begin to build a world of my own. The foundation of this world being built by my own independent choices and desires. My spiritual journey has been just as profoundly mirrored to my physical journey as possible. Leaving behind the rigorous laws and confinements of the christian fundamentalist worldview and embracing the spirit within me that resonates with the universal spirit around me and the spirits within the people I encounter and allowing that essential spirit in me to be my guide for my next steps.
I selected to take yoga as a way of trying to be more in touch with my body as I prepared for a complete pelvic reconstructive surgery later in the summer. I was absolutely stunned in the gentlest sort of way the very first night, as I eased into the stretches, that it felt like coming home. I found I was coming home to myself, allowing my spirit to stand in my own bones and stretch tight against my own skin. The physical presence of emotion in my body was stunning. In turns I found giggles bubbling forth and also tears. I appreciated so much the night near the middle of the term when tears just kept silently coming the entire hour and forty minutes, I appreciated that in a room full of people I could just feel what I was feeling and it wasn't made into a big deal. I wasn't expected to stop or explain or in anyway be other than what I was; and yet, I wasn't unnoticed. I gentle placement of the instructor's hand in the middle of my back during a long forward bend assured me that I was seen. I was there, and without a word, that my process was welcome.
What I received from six weeks of yoga, is a sense of welcoming and affirmation, a physical confirmation of belonging in my body and essentially safely coming home to myself. Yoga and I have taken a few steps together, beginning a journey that will surely continue and grow in the future. Thank you.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this yoga class during summer quarter. I always looked forward to Thursday nights! I loved how Kristin not only did poses and balancing poses but also breathing exercises which really helped me learn how to truly breathe deeply. I still use the deep breathing technique for stressful situations like when I'm in horrible traffic!
ReplyDeleteThis class really made me feel more balanced during the rest of my week. In this world that is so busy and task-oriented, it helped me to remember to take time to relax and to actually enjoy relaxing. It also just allowed me to reconnect my mind with my body and to appreciate my body more.
I also enjoyed Kristin's teaching style and how she fostered others' enjoyment of yoga through her own enjoyment and through her kindness.
Thank you Kristin! I loved this class!:)
Hannah Sides
Thanks everyone! Enjoy the rest of your summer:)
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