Division of International Studies

Lee Shi-yun. Division of International Studies.
Lee Shi-yun. Division of International Studies.

 

I first started yoga by the guidance of my mother, who has been practicing yoga for nearly a decade since her back problem started to worsen after an accident 12 years ago. I was going through a difficult time trying to cope with both my grade and my deteriorating health as a year 12 student getting prepared for university entrance exams. People say that sound mind can only be born within a sound body - and apparently I was completely ignoring that. As my back, neck, ankles and knees started to ache one by one, my attitude of treating others and especially myself got worse. Stress accumulated from both facts that nearly all parts of my body were squeaking and that my personality was having negative influence over others and myself. Hence, I called an SOS to my mother, who has always been one of my most trustworthy advisor. She then introduced me to the world of yoga, which helps you to control both your stressed mind and body. 

At first trial, it was hard to get fond of yoga that easily. Some of the poses that you have to practice were awkward and difficult to take, and I could feel parts of my body screaming to stop as some parts started to hurt even more. However, after about two weeks, I was experiencing something new - surprisingly, the strains that I was going through had slowly disappeared. That is when I started to put a lot of time and effort into yoga, in the attempt to keep both my mind and body in a sound state. This is what I like about yoga - it teaches you that one who wants the honey must bear the stings of the bees. 

I am now 2 years into regularly practicing yoga. Yet I am still an amateur and there are a lot of difficult aspects that I try to endure. Firstly, sometimes when you are not in a perfect condition, it is an extremely pressuring thing to get yourself up, go to the fitness centre, change your clothes, and take an absurd pose that requires you to stand on one foot and one hand or something like that. These are the moments when I feel like I just want to cancel the lesson and rest. But every time I successfully finish the lesson and go back to the changing room, I see myself beaming in the mirror, full of confidence and boosted energy. 

The second thing that gets in the way of my yoga life is when you cannot keep yourself awake during meditations. Yoga, unlike any other types of sports, accompany meditations that last for about five to ten minutes per a practice. This is one of the reasons why yoga betters not only your physical health but also your mental health. Yet from time to time, especially during exam periods when one sometimes stays up the whole night, your brain mistakes the meditation time as sleeping time and turns your power off. Then, you can find yourself poked by the instructor at the end of the lesson, when everybody else had already left and you are the only one sitting on the yoga mat, dozing off. 

Yoga has helped me get through the hard times of my life, and I believe that it is still doing so. I have learnt how to release stress and get refreshed by doing something other than going onto youtube for no reason or drinking over the limit. Although it may sound a little cringy, yoga had definitely changed my life more or less. Hence I hope for more people to get to know this activity and imbue more of positive air into their lives.

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