MY YOGA STORY 

Five years ago, I went to my first Bikram yoga class. There were only two Bikram yoga studios in the area, so I ended up at the Falls Church location which was a hole in the wall studio that smelled like burning incense. It was love at first sight and immediately, I became addicted to this sweltering hot sweaty form of Hatha yoga.

YOGA BECOMES MORE POPULAR

Since then, three more Birkam studios have recently opened in my area. And yoga is everywhere. You can even find the DC yoga community practicing on the National Mall during the Cherry Blossom Festival, every spring. I also have opened my mind to other forms of yoga – practicing inverted poses, and arm balancing poses.

Is Yoga trendy? No I don’t thinks so. Yoga’s existence is old very old, but yoginis world wide are now more than ever spreading the word, of how healing yoga is. The word is being spread in many ways, including through art.

YOGA ART EXHIBIT

Yesterday, my sister and I headed to the Freer Sackler Gallery, to see an art exhibit on the history of Yoga. The exhibit was called Yoga: The Art of Transformation.

The collection was made up of statues and painting borrowed from 25 different museums form India, Europe and the US. It explored the diversity, history, and how yoga evolved over time. The exhibit touched on philosophies, transformation goals, and the importance yoga has in multiple other religions. It revealed how yogis and yoginis effected society.

From the exhibit, the idea that one can find enlightenment through extremes, such as heat or freezing cold really stuck with me, because I love Bikram and other forms of hot yoga. I also liked the idea that yogis would wash themselves in water to gain purity, because it reminded me of a Christian baptism. It is interesting how much similarities are found in one religion to the next.

WHAT YOGA MEANS TO ME

The world can be a negative place sometimes, full of critical people that are constantly judging. It is a human’s nature to be competitive, striving to be the best person one can be. And what I like best about yoga is how accepting the yoga community is to all people. It is not about who can do the best scorpion pose, instead it is about the process, the journey, to enlightenment. It is about the constant trying, the life long practice, to perfect each pose, and heal the body.

What does yoga mean to you?

If you are in the DC area check out the Yoga exhibit at the Sackler.

© 2013 sweatdaily