Yoga and the Year of Learning

I suppose during the "happily ever after" phase of married life, a hyperactive nurse such as myself would seek out new learning opportunities. Finding these interests too numerous, I grouped them into years--not unlike the Chinese Zodiac calendar--of piano, reading/writing, drawing/painting, the nursing profession, cooking, and Go (worlds oldest princely board game of Chinese origin).

During 2014, playing Go was the interest I was exploring. This board game is played using black and white disks called stones placed taking turns on the intersections of a gridded 19x19 surface called a goban. The object is simply to circle more intersections than your opponent. But what makes Go the most complex game in the world is the endless value judgments players must make--attack or defend, balance or assertive play, sacrifice stones now for future gains--while keeping greed securely in check. When you study and play Go, you find yourself drawn into other aspects of Asian cultures that encompass body, mind and spirit such as Buddhism, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and yoga.

In May of 2014, while reading up on the yoga experience, my wife and I received an invitation to attend a class at Revolution Hot Yoga from our next door neighbor. On our first ever experience with--hot or otherwise--yoga, I found it a perfect fit--relaxing exercise to compliment running, concentrating to expand the mind, and a spiritual facet for harmony. The first class was exactly as I envisioned it; low lighting with matching music, heat relentlessly smacking you upside the head, and everyone seriously concentrating on each pose.

Today I find myself looking forward to the "meditation room with a lot of sweat." I now stretch with Calcutta grips and torso twists anytime of the day, keenly aware of my breathing and muscle groups working together to achieve the great feeling of relaxation.

I love the way the class goes through each pose in a methodical routine, with a warm, relaxing, spiritual chi even though a pose that was easy one day, can turn into a this-is-for-the-birds pose the next! I enjoy studying each pose with the eye of a sketch artist, appreciating the beauty of straight lines and curves.

 
Some poses seem impossible simply because I am a male. The pelvis gets in the way with standing folding pose, not to mention the ease of the bow pose would be without the anatomy getting in the way. I have a harder time hearing the teacher when I am in the standing folding pose too, perhaps because of increased intracranial pressure causing me to glance over at a nearby student for a sort of visual, "What did she say?...oh."

With ADHD people like me, the biggest challenge is finding and holding this concentrating center of attention that encompasses the whole body--breath, stretch, focus--relaxing one set of muscles while pulling others, sustaining a balanced form that at any second could tumble like a stack of pebbles. There are days where all the muscle groups are in synch and communicating well to achieve the pose. If absent for any length of time, it's trying for every group to synch up smoothly again. 

In the operating room, while juggling the demands of surgery, assessments, and patient-focused care, it's a good feeling knowing the physical aspects come easier using the techniques of relaxing and stretching learned in yoga. Getting used to the heat in hot yoga trains me to withstand the heat of the OR rooms needed for our pediatric and elderly populations.

I am very pleased to have added hot yoga to my year of learning experiences, and will continue to incorporate these ideas into my daily living.

This is Vince DiMattia's yoga story

Go to RHY website.