Well done Maryl…so pleased all went well and you enjoyed it…
Had my third yoga lesson this morning, I am enjoying this. I find the positions easy because I’m very flexible but am wondering if I’m getting the full benefit physically because the tutor says things like ‘you should be able to feel your back/legs/whatever stretching’ and I can’t.
Anyway, the end of the lesson is relaxation, flat on the floor, eyes closed and she talked us through a quiet walk and a sit down on our local beach. This is what I ‘knew’ I would fail at, that instead I would be working out the shopping list or what jobs I had to do today. I said to myself, sod it I am not falling for that rubbish! So (in my mind) I purposely went for a stroll in our woods instead. The tutor is good at her job, I was in the woods with my dogs, they were playing around me, the sun was warm, the smell of the grass and trees, Murphy and Bobby bounding around, tails wagging, their happy faces, in full health. It was too much for me, I miss them, so I gently let that go or I would have been in tears there. Never in all my born days did I believe I’d fall for it and I did. It’s not called relaxation, it’s something beginning with ‘I’ which I can’t remember.
Wow - sounds like you’re a pro already Maryl!!
Glad it’s all going well for you, keep us posted!
(ps I don’t know what that relaxation thing is called either lol)
I’m glad you’re enjoying the yoga, Mary 
So pleased you’re enjoying it Mary…
Cant feel the stretch?-then carefully go half an inch more? but go easy its a fine line between not going further enough and too far-be patient!!
As to relaxation-never say I did not warn you. It takes a long time-it took me three months to clear my head of all the stuff going on in there.
Thanks OG, good advice I was hoping you’d reply. I’ll try that, a little at a time at home this week. On the relaxation, I hope that will come in time.
Well the yoga is coming along steadily and I love it, we practised the Warrior yesterday amongst other things. I would like to see OG do this after a few bevvies, balance is everything! That is something I thought I had, seems not as I was the only one out of the twelve of us who had to stand near the wall in case I toppled over. Very flexible, can do everything she asks easily but balance - no. She said it was important because balancing uses the fine muscles we don’t often use and good balance can prevent us from falling over in our older years - yikes!
It is called ‘visualisation’
We returned to our over 50s yoga lessons today after the five week christmas break. Most of the previous people were there along with a couple of new ones. Was I happy to be back! OG is right, I pushed myself a little further and felt the stretch and didn’t need to look at the teacher most of the time. As for the visualisation, where we all lay on the floor at the end while she reads us a thoughtful passage - hopeless - my mind was doing the shopping list. I wish I’d learnt all this years ago, I feel I have more ‘up and go’ today than for ages.
I seem to be talking to myself on this thread … oh well I do that here all day anyway. I am beginning feeling the benefit of yoga in my mind and body, not all the time but every now and then it helps me out. I’m a worrier (mainly about the family) and now I can gently push those thoughts away for a short while, it also reminds me to correct my posture, breathing etc. as if it’s part of me now and a ‘gift I’ve been given’. One that I hope to keep forever.
Good to hear the yoga is going well for you Mary, you seem to have come a long way since you posted on here that you were full of nerves at the thought of going to your first lesson!
Maybe you can give us a few tips on correct posture and relaxing! ;-) How on earth does one empty one’s mind? Mine never seems to switch off! :roll:
Yes, I remember you giving me encouragement back then. I was so scared of going and having to meet new people. Thanks Mags, you helped me along the way. I don’t empty my mind, just gently push unwanted thoughts away ‘for now’ if that makes any sense. I give myself permission to have this five minutes, it takes a bit of practice because I am so used to being at the beck and call of other people. It is amazing the difference one hour a week can make since September.
I’ve been practicing meditation for a good few years and this emptying your mind thing is a myth. If you were able to empty your mind you would have no conscious recollection that you had done it as your mind would be, well…empty. How would you know if you’d achieved it !?
It’s a complex subject but simplisticaly there’s two general “styles” of meditation, both are about attention. One is about focusing your attention on one subject, for example a symbol or some object, maybe a buddha, a candle, or it could be anything really. The other style is quite the opposite, i.e don’t focus attention on anything in particular, as thoughts appear just let them dissolve away without and don’t try to stop them. Both styles have different benefits.
mrmojorisin, emptying the mind is really emptying it of all negative thoughts and thinking only of things that made you happy and content.
Meditation and Yoga are good for you if you keep it up.
Question, how does a mindless person empty thier mind. 
You don’t need to meditate to do that !
We are taught to sit comfortably on the floor, either cross legged or feet under bums with back straight, shoulders down, hands with palms up, eyes lowered or closed. To say ‘thank you and goodbye’ to any thoughts that come, negative or positive (and of course mine all come rushing in at this point!). It’s true, after a few minutes you get a peaceful sense of wellbeing. Mine only lasts for about 30 seconds but those that have practiced yoga meditation for years can sit like that for hours, lucky things.
Benefits of meditatio
Hi I’m a new member here and just stumbled on this discussion. I meditate for about 30 minutes every day with the help of my iPod.
just stick the earphones in, lay back and listen. It’s great!
I hadn’t been to my weekly yoga session for three weeks because of the easter hols and my goodness was I stiff and aching, especially my back, when I went in this morning. I’ve been literally hobbling around at home. After an hour of stretches and bending I feel a great improvement already. I had become complacent, in that because I’d been looking after five grandchildren most of the time during the school holidays and been out and about with them, that would be exercise enough. Seems I must practice yoga more at home, just 10 minutes a day should keep me supple and painless. That’s taught me a lesson!
I do think meditation is good for you - you only need to sit for 5-10 mins a day - it also lowers your blood pressure.