Weekly Journal Entry #3

          In my yoga space, yoga is rarely seen or taught as much more than an exercise for the physical body. The people that I practice with, as well as myself, use yoga as a supplement to other forms of training to increase core strength, balance, and flexibility. We achieve these goals by using various forms and poses common to yoga such as the warrior series, downward dog, and tree pose. Yoga is seen as a form of physical empowerment in my daily practice. I view yoga as a way to warm up my body and stretch before a hard training session or as a cool down stretch after a hard training session to quicken the recovery speed of my body.
          One way in which my teachers teach yoga as more than just a physical empowerment is through focusing on the breath. Breathing normally is essential not only in yoga but in the martial arts as well. Proper control of your breathing improves your technique and conditioning in harsh circumstances or situations that are less than ideal. Through the use of various breathing exercises, I calm myself and my mind during my yoga practice, and this practice carries over to my training in jiu jitsu and muay thai, where proper breathing is essential if you are training for extended periods of time.
          I feel that the reason I prefer yoga as a supplement to my training as opposed to running or zumba is because yoga preaches an inner calm that I feel is more beneficial to my other practices in comparison to other exercises such as zumba or running. Having an art such as yoga that preaches proper posture and breathing techniques, you have a mindset that is interchangeable with the mindset of a martial artists. Practices such as breathing correctly and proper posturing are essential to proper technical advancements in martial arts training.
             

Weekly Journal Entry #2

                 When it comes to my practice space for practicing yoga I feel that I am in a unique position compared to most other yoga practitioners. I do not consider the space in which I practice yoga to be a "sacred space". I think that this mindset comes from my instructors in the various martial arts, we see the mat as a place to learn, improve, sweat, and bleed. When it comes to showing respect, we show respect more to our training partners as opposed to our practice space. Furthermore, my yoga practice often has a focus purely on the physical aspects of yoga, with very little meditation and a lot of positional holds such as warrior and tree. Our goal with taking a very physical approach to yoga is to improve our balance, stability, and sense of calm when training other martial arts such as jiu jitsu or muay thai. The people that I train around are not yogis first, but martial artists.
                 In terms of decoration, our space for yoga practice is very bare with white, matted walls on all sides. Along one side of the room is where we keep most of our equipment and pads for various striking arts as well as heavy bags on the other side of the room. In comparison to other yoga practice spaces, I feel like we are on par when it comes to creating a calm, distraction-free environment for training. Our rules revolve primarily around obedience to our instructors and respect to our training partners. When practicing vinyasa, the mindset is comparable to that of a martial artist. Everyone in the room is looking to improve their physical prowess in terms of core strength, balance, stability, and flexibility.
                The way in which my normal practice space differs from a purely yoga-centric environment is in the noises. At times while we practice yoga you can hear the sounds of heavy bags and pads being hit or people rolling around on the mats from the other room. This environment does not bother us since we practice Vinyasa from a purely physical standpoint. We do not do much in the way of spiritual meditation as we are using yoga as a component of our martial arts training in order to enhance our skills in the other martial arts. I think that is approach to yoga is becoming increasingly popular as more people, especially men, are seeing the benefits that yoga can provide in terms of free movement and flexibility.

Weekly Journal Entry #1

                      As someone who has been practicing yoga for almost three years now, I can bring a more experienced perspective and outlook to the room and give a good read on the environment and the people training around me. The physical environment is rather simple, I frequently practice yoga in tandem with various other martial arts including wrestling, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The environment that I practiced yoga in tonight was simple, a matted floor with matted walls, bare as can be. I enjoy a practice space that is light on earthly distractions while I am practicing both yoga and the martial arts, and I believe that the two have many similarities in terms of proper practice and the mindset during practice.
                      The class I attended was an Advanced sweat yoga class designed for well conditioned athletes and fighters as well as experienced yoga practitioners. In the room during a session such as this you see men and women who take great care of their bodies and maintain a peak physical form. That being said, everyone also shares the mindset that there is always room for improvement, be it in yoga or in matters off of the mat. This unique blend of martial arts and yoga creates a training environment that breeds competition and encourages and motivates everyone in the room to improve themselves so that they may further improve others in the process.
                     While performing Yoga in this particular setting, I focus on my breathing throughout. In such a harsh and heated environment with other top-level athletes, I am motivated to push myself throughout the session and maintain focus on my breathing instead of how tired my muscles feel, or how hot my body feels. I take a similar approach when training martial arts. I am always trained to remain calm in adverse situations, a skill that is applicable not only to the martial arts, but to Yoga, and even to everyday situations in life. My goal for this particular session is to get a good workout in and improve myself in some way, whether it be mentally, physically, or spiritually. This environment breeds a desire to improve for fear of falling behind the others in the advanced class, and I feel that this environment is best for breeding high-level athletes and efficient human beings in the community.