What I felt after my first insight yoga class.

Insight yoga is practised while tying a blindfold. This means it improves your awareness by heightening the other senses of the body. As today is observed as World Braille day, we want to raise awareness of how yoga can be practised by anyone irrespective of their circumstances and how it can be beneficial to everyone the same. Yoga is for everyone. Practising yoga every day focuses on physical and mental healthcare and insight yoga is one of the effective forms of yoga to do so.

Here’s how insight yoga helps:

• Improves awareness of the body
• Helps to learn new movements and improves concentration
• Improves balance between mind & body.
• Aids in developing deep self-awareness
• One of the most effective ways to get to know about oneself better
• Improves concentration and peace
• Improve senses
• After insight yoga you can feel the connection between mind, body & soul

Asanas and pranayama you can practise during an insight yoga class:

1. Cat - cow

Steps:

1. Come on your four limbs (both knee and palm).
2. Make sure the wrist and knee should be parallel.
3. Now you are in a tabletop pose.
4. Spread your figures so that you can take weight on your palm instead of your wrist.
5. Now inhale and raise your head upwards and make a nice arch in your back, exhale, look down and hunch on your back.

2. Malasana

Steps:

1. Stand in mountain pose (Tadasana) on your mat.
2. Keep both your legs far apart, about 2 - 2.5 feet apart.
3. Now slowly bend your elbows and bring your palm together in (prayer position) make sure your hands are near the chest.
4. Bend your knees and sit slowly towards the bottom, knees should be out and elbow in.
5. In this position lower your hips towards the ground and sit on the soles of your feet.

3. Savasana

Steps: Lie down on your mat. Both hands are on your side. Palm facing up. Now relax your mind and inhale through your both nostrils, hold your breath for 5-10 seconds and exhale from both nostrils.

Pranayama

1. Anulom vilom

Steps:

1. Sit in any comfortable pose and keep your spine straight.
2. Close your eyes and place your left hand on your left knee palm facing upward. Touch your thumb and index finger gently.
3. With the right-hand thumb close your right nostril. Inhale gently from the left nostril, until the lungs become full of air.
4. Then close the left nostril with the right hand’s index finger and exhale slowly from the right nostril.

2. Deep breathing

Steps:

1. Sit on the mat.
2. Both hands are on your knees. Palm facing up.
3. Now relax your mind and inhale through your both nostrils, hold your breath for 5-10 seconds and exhale from both nostrils.

This is what I experienced when I did my first ever insight yoga class

When I closed my eyes in the beginning it was difficult, because I couldn’t really make out what I was doing, whether it was correct or not. But as the session began I felt I was becoming more and more aware of my body. I could feel the connection with my body and mind they worked together. I felt my mind is giving instructions to my body and my body movements is going with that. It was a unique experience that made me realise the powerful connection between my mind and body. During the pranayama after the asana practice, I became more aware of my breath. I felt as if I could clearly hear the sound of my breath. This experience was something like I never had before. It was peaceful, calming and mindful.

This was my first experience of an insight yoga class, that made me feel extremely powerful and at peace at the same time.