New to Yoga -- share your success stories, please

I have been doing the Ultimate Yogi DVDs off and on for about a month, which is a faster flow type of yoga. I love it, and I sweat like crazy during them, it really feels like a great workout! With that being said, I haven't lost any weight this month, but I've noticed my arms are more toned, my butt seems to look better, I'm gaining ab strength (lots of planking involved, which I hate, lol), and I just feel better in general. My clothes fit a little differently too. Not a huge change at this point, but my husband noticed my arms before I did. I'm going to incorporate more walking as well as continuing the yoga to maybe see some pounds go away to go with that toning.

My successes:

1. I'm a nicer person after I do yoga. I have a long way to go to be a nice person, but it's still an improvement.
2. I'm really flexible.
3. My posture when I'm not doing yoga is pretty good and fantastic when I'm in class
4. I let things go more often. I hold fewer grudges. I'm more content with "what is".
5. I can do all sorts of fun poses - I stand on my head, hands, arms; I touch my feet to my head. It makes kids laugh.
6. I have an entire group of friends I didn't have before.
7. I enjoy it. If you find something you enjoy, you'll stick with it. If you enjoy kickboxing, then by all means do that. If you like yoga, than do that too. You'll be much healthier and happier of you find things you enjoy.
8. I'm all around stronger than I used to be.
9. If I'm stressed out, I can go stand on my head for a bit, and I feel better.
10. Yoga helps me be more aware of the effect food has on my body. I notice if I have too much caffeine, my palms sweat. If I eat junk, I feel like junk.

Try a bunch of different styles, find a group of people you like, and keep going to that class!

when i started yoga, i attended a class once every two weeks, but it was so great at getting rid of my stress, i eventually added more classes. it helped to tone me up, and i lost some weight, but the greatest takeaway i got from it was a better understanding of my muscles and tendons and a trust in how far i could push myself, which gave me confidence and self-acceptance. because what i ate impacted my yoga practice, i started eating more mindfully. now i attend classes as often as my family schedule allows, and i am trying to also practice at home. my only regret about yoga is that i didn't start practicing sooner!

How long before you were able to the "fun stuff" -- headstand, crazy poses. I think that would be so amazingly, awesome! Love all your success -- great job!

I took me many years before I could do headstand only because I had neck issues. Most people in my classes can do it within a year with regular practice. I've seen people do handstand on the first try, others take years. I could do wheel (urdhva dhanurasana) as well as handstand right away. The pose I'm doing in the picture took quite a few years to do consistently and many more to do at all well. It really depends on how often you practice though.

I started yoga classes earier in the year and I absolutely love it. I was doing just one class a week to start, but this week I started going to a second class, and also try and do some at home on my own most days, especially now I am trying to tackle my weight.

It's strange how it goes, but some weeks I find it quite easy, other weeks it seems much more difficult. For example today we did hero pose, where you are in a kind of kneeling position with your inner knees together and your calves and feet out at an angle, and then you sit back and rest your buttocks on the floor (or on a block if you can't make the floor).

Last week I did this without any trouble whatsoever - today I couldn't do it at all! I tried several times but my body just wouldn't let me?

That's what I find odd about yoga that it's not a smooth progression, but it's sort of one step forward, one step backwards, or at least that's how it feels with me. Sometimes the classes fly by and I make all the poses and balances really well, then the following week I struggle and am wobbling about all over the place and keep looking at the clock because the time seems to be crawling by. Having said all that I do feel I'm getting great benefit from it and although I'm heavier than I've ever been in my life, I definitely look more toned, and that's just in a few months.

I also went to a Pilates class this week. It's not dissimilar to yoga, but I found it quite a bit easier, and I felt more invigorated afterwards. With yoga I come out feeling very calm and tranquil (and sometimes a bit sleepy) but with the Pilates I felt a lot more energetic afterwards.

So I'm going to stick with my two yoga classes per week but also add one Pilates class to the mix as well as trying to do a few minutes practise at home each day.

We've done it twice at home so far. Success for me was just getting off my *kitten* and doing it.
I still feel pretty stupid with some of the things they make you do - but as someone who has always been plagued with back problems and constant muscle spasms, the stretching feels really good.

I had never done a yoga class in person until last week. I have done two classes now and I'm hooked! My instructor is so patient and calming and I can't wait until I can execute the poses flawlessly. The classes I have taken are right after one of my bootcamp classes and I've found it to be a great way to work out all the kinks from that.

Can't wait to share some success stories!

I started power yoga about a year and a half ago. I started doing 12 classes a month but I had to buy an unlimited pass about 8 months ago because I began wanting to go way more often. :happy: I try to go to 4-6 classes a week. The classes I attend torch some serious calories, which has helped me lose 50 pounds over the time I've been doing it.

I love it so much. Physically and mentally I can't think of a more rounded "exercise." My progress has been slow and incremental, which can be frustrating for some who want immediate results, but looking back at where I started it's like night and day. Flexibility and strength are through the roof now. I can make my body do stuff I never dreamed of--and there's still a ton of room for improvement. I'm excited to see where I am in another year!

My biggest success is my sciatic nerve. I tweaked it about 7 years ago doing lawnmower pulls as part of P90. After starting to run and do yoga, it's better than 99%

I started Bikram Yoga about one year ago and practiced for about 10 months. The classes are held in a 105* room at 40% humidity and you sweat through 2 breathing exercises and 2 sets of 26 poses in 1-1/2 hours per class. I went 3-5 classes per week to help heal/rehab a runners injury to my ankle. It was a struggle to get through each class but I felt so much better after getting done each day. I often got up early to get into the city for a 6 am class before work, and even went to two special sessions which each lasted over 4 hours. I only recently stopped because I wanted to increase my time running and weight training and I was running out of hours in a day to fit everything in. My ankle was healed in those classes and some of my other aches and pains went away while I learned how to improve my balance and worked especially hard on backbends to heal my spine.