I Never Used to Think Yoga Was For Me - Lisa's Journey from Sceptic to Student to Teacher - Diligent Fitness

I Never Used to Think Yoga Was For Me – Lisa’s Journey from Sceptic to Student to Teacher

23rd February 2015 by Kieran Igwe Exercise 0 comments

It all started with a book

A few years ago (actually back in 2007 to be exact) I decided to join a running club – the wonderful Eccleshill Road Runners. After about 4 months and a couple of 10k runs later I stumbled across a book in my local bookshop; The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga by US yoga teacher and tri-athlete Sage Rountree.

Now it’s worth mentioning – a few of my friends were seriously into yoga and one of them was even a teacher, however, I didn’t think that yoga was for me and had discounted it. You know the usual: I’m not flexible enough, I’m not thin enough, it’s not dynamic enough for me… (These now all make me howl with laughter – totally not true!)

Hooked on Yoga

So anyway – armed with my new book I found that I was totally hooked. This coupled with the fact that I had a terrible hip flexor injury which was so painful I knew I had to do something and fast. Using the weekly exercise schedules – every morning without fail I managed to find 30 minutes to stretch. As well as enjoying it my injury seemed to clear up really quickly.

The perfect companion to running

It wasn’t long before I had made the transition to DVD and really started to notice the difference in my flexibility and how much better my muscles felt after running with the club. My weekly mileage and individual runs had increased and yoga seemed to be the perfect companion.

My first Yoga class

By the summer of 2008, whilst visiting my yoga teacher friend overseas, I plucked up the courage to attend her class. Whilst I had loved my DVDs and continued to use my book and other literature, the class situation was something different again and I fell in love. I started out using yoga as a compliment to my running. I then found out yoga is a way of life and it was for me and that was that!

Becoming a teacher

Fast forward to autumn 2014 and I qualified as a 200hr Yoga Alliance, Sun Power Yoga Teacher which is a combination of Ashtanga (power), Iyengar (alignment) & Sivanadna (spiritual) Yoga.

Lisa flexing her inner calm

Lisa in the lotus position

I continue to be a student; as my big brother always says “every day is a school day” and the more I learn the less I actually know. Yoga is indeed a way of life and I love that I can share that knowledge with people as well as being proof that yoga does change your body, your mind & your flexibility.

I’ll no longer say that I’m not flexible enough, I’m not thin enough, it’s not dynamic enough for me… try one of my classes and you’ll see for yourself!

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