Yoga for Nerds

I grew up a nerd, which is the opposite of a jock, so embodied athletic things were not part of my identity. I was more reaching for the ideal of brain-in-vat purity. (Did band and ran 5k anyway) At various times yoga has pushed me away (too much woo-woo usually) but now it works for me, here’s how

Learn yoga from a good teacher. My science nerd brain really appreciates a few yoga teachers out there who are total anatomy nerds and can tell you which muscles and bones are involved in a thing.

Learn yoga from a book! The perfect answer for bookish nerds! Benefits: read about the poses before you do them; read about the sequence before you do it instead of scrambling to catch up with what the teacher announced; practice in private where it’s not embarrassing; and more. I learned from the Swenson “Ashtanga Yoga” book. https://amzn.to/3F3xxDH

Yoga solo practice was a breakthrough. I can move at my own pace (I want to move slower than most teachers). I always know what comes next (no scrambling to catch up). I can do a little every day, whatever fits (which is probably more than I’d get out of 1-2 classes per week). I can scale up at my own pace (after a couple weeks of 30 minute sequence I started adding in pieces of a 45 minute sequence). A daily small practice can still make gains and that feels great.

Yoga solo practice is great, but I think I had been to _enough_ classes that I also had a feel for it. After a few months of solo practice I asked one yoga teacher friend to grade my form (you may want to buy a 1-1 lesson!) and got some idiosyncrasies corrected.

Yoga as "Power On Self Test". My day goes better if I do a few things to recalibrate in the morning, test and reset some systems. If I stretch a few muscles and warm up a couple muscles I'll know better what's up with my body today (every day is different) and I'll get some things started, and both of these things will make my day better.

There are many systems of movement and fitness and embodied practice. Yoga works for me and makes my life better. I hope you find one that works for you.