StralaYoga

I recently read Strala Yoga: Be Strong, Focused & Ridiculously Happy from the Inside Out by Tara Stiles (2016).  By the way, “strala” is a scrunch-word coined by TS, from the roots of “strength, balance, and awareness.”

As part of my annual growth plan (you can find it on my website), I have determined for at least one year to learn and practice yoga. 

Admittedly, this decision is pushing me out of my comfort zone.  By disposition, I am a work-hard-lift-heavy-run-fast-sweat-much kind of exerciser.  Yoga is forcing me to think more holistically, less specifically, and far less intensely than is my custom. 

Now two months deep into the practice I am seeing, feeling, and beginning to understand the benefits of this form of health maintenance (still hard to for to think of it as exercise). 

TS makes the point repeatedly in the book that even in the fiercest and most powerful of animals on the planet, we don’t see them going to the weight room or enrolling in group exercise classes.  The analogy does break down rather quickly, but it also holds in many relevant ways.

Bottom line:  I’m in (for at least a year) and, to date, have been most pleased with the outcomes (physically, cognitively, and emotional-spiritually).

Wish me luck.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to www.nelsonwcoulter.com.