Sacred Yoga
My name is Ilaria, I am 29 years old, I am a mom and I am a yoga teacher.
I met the practice at 24 years old because of necessity, not by chance, as soon as I finished breastfeeding my son. I was looking for an activity that was able to physically settle me and at the same time give me a moment of peace, in an existence entirely changed by the arrival of my son.
I will never forget my first Yoga lesson: having absolutely no idea that there were different types of it, I enrolled in an Ashtanga Vinyasa course (a very intense physical and training practice) with people who had been practicing for years. At the third greeting in the sun I thought I was going to die.
My body was not ready to move, my mind was not ready to be there. But breath after breath, I felt my body and my mind. I felt them, I felt them. Once the lesson was over, I immediately understood that this was going to be my trip.
I went on practicing with my teacher and that group, without missing a lesson for a whole year, with discipline, intention, I saw my body changing and my mind beginning to answer me.
The real change was when I felt the need to buy my mat, and to start practicing on my own, not relegating the practice to a sacred and isolated moment per week but including it in my daily life, where small miracles already take place every day.
After only two years of practice, I decided to take the path of becoming a teacher. Mother Nature provided me with open hips and a flexible back, it took relatively little time for me to be “physically” ready. The training course clearly opened up a world to me, because yoga is not just physicality, however, a small part of yoga involves exercise. Yoga is truly a way of life, which once embraced, it cannot be left.
The benefits of yoga are many.
First of all, it makes us happier. And a joyful face is already beautiful.
It increases flexibility, balance, resistance, strength of the body, giving harmonious shapes, long, toned muscles functional to perform everyday actions gently and without fatigue.
It detoxifies the body as the asanas – the physical positions – of yoga are performed in coordination with the breath. This synergy ensures that the internal organs receive a massage, a steering of oxygen, and get rid of toxins.
It reduces anxiety and depression as it teaches us to manage our emotional field, thanks to discipline and self-control, when they master meditation and breathing techniques.
It improves the quality of sleep, with the natural consequence that a rested face is a more open, relaxed, luminous face. It slows down aging, it is good for the heart and it increases the quality of breathing.
Yoga, although it was (apparently) invented by men, is a perfect discipline for women.
It makes us more able to face and manage fears, even the most unconscious, connects us with our deep, intimate sphere, allows us to concentrate our energies towards our goals, makes us less distracted, and more focused.
On a physical level it regulates the menstrual cycle and strengthens the pelvic floor, making it elastic: which is why it is recommended for pregnant and postpartum women. Nonetheless, it improves the sexual life of every woman, precisely because of the action it does on the pelvic diaphragm.
Ilaria, Yoga Teacher
