Peaceful Warrior

My Journey into Yoga

Let me set the scene for you; 6ft2, 235lbs/106kg muscular frame man doing the Adho Mukha Svanasana, otherwise known as the Downward-Facing Dog. Something I’m sure you’re not accustomed to seeing, what a sight to behold right? You may be asking yourself why or how I’m able to manage such poses. I’ll get to both within this post.

My journey into Yoga started randomly to be honest, literally by chance. As an avid gym-goer, I love lifting heavy weights and bodybuilding in general but noticed after gym sessions I wouldn’t stretch and even if I did, the stretches were nowhere near extensive enough to aid in recovery after a heavy gym session. So my muscles and joints were often left feeling very tense and stiff.

I needed a solution, now you’re probably thinking why don’t you just stay longer after your gym sessions to do a deep stretch? Well, that’s kinda difficult when you have to squeeze in an hour’s gym session, shower, and refuel the body all within an hour’s lunch but who’s clock watching I guess? (My manager, that’s who…) The simple answer is I didn’t have enough time after my workouts and going gym after work was a myth as I just wanted to get home to a hot dinner and a luxurious bubble bath after a busy day in the office.

So I asked my good friend Google, effective ways to stretch to lessen muscle soreness and tension, and the answer was given, right before my very eyes; Yoga. After watching numerous videos on YouTube for research, I thought to myself there is no way I will be able to do those stretches and poses, I can just about bend to tie my shoelace. I don’t have the frame or flexibility of someone who does Yoga but what the heck let’s go for it anyway.

A few clicks on Amazon Prime and by the next day I was ready; yoga mat, air diffuser, water bottle, and yoga attire ready to begin class. Within five minutes I gave up, those Chelsea Yummy Mummies make it look so easy but this is no joke and definitely not for the faint-hearted.

“Bloody hell man, this is harder than I thought, this is absolutely nuts, they must be cheating somehow, surely”

Ok, back to the drawing board, how do I bounce back from this pathetic attempt. I slowly realised I was as bent out of shape like a pretzel. All those heavyweight gym sessions left me as stiff as Arnie in his recent return to the Terminator franchise.

Right, time to get down to business. I started taking my health more seriously, starting with how I structured my training; balanced out heavy lifting with more bodyweight exercises and cardio-based training. I started cleaning up my diet and included supplements to support my recovery. Big shout out to Cod Liver Oil and Collagen on the joint support, especially on the knees, y’all know I got bad knees.

I also went Vegan, (This is a crazy story within itself, which I will surely write about in a future post) can you believe it? Everyone thought I had lost the plot, especially my mum, I guess being a Nigerian man and refusing beef stew and peppered assorted meats is unheard of as we like our meals carb-heavy with varied meats/fish.

As time went on, keeping consistent in my approach, I started to see and feel a huge difference, I lost a ton of weight, my skin was glowing, hair and nails grew rapidly, felt lighter, sharper and overall strength and health improved vastly which in itself helped me to be more agile and flexible with stretching firstly and yoga poses.

Now back to show Yoga who’s the man, downloaded a Yoga app called DownDogApp which allowed me to fine-tune my Yoga training to my liking, level and comfortability, a much better approach than watching the pros on Youtube. DownDogApp allowed me to practice Yoga in my own time, mixing up workouts with endless configurations and having all the benefits of Yoga right from my smartphone in the comfort of my own home.

The more consistent I was at Yoga, the more benefits I saw realised in my daily life; increased flexibility, muscle strength, improved balance, improved athletic performance, decreased stress, better sleep, better mind/body connection, sharper focus, and greatly improved morning runs, especially with my knees and joints (Again, shout out to my supplements).

I was sold and Yoga still remains a staple in my assortments of physical activities. I find it fun and empowering with its many benefits from incorporating stretching with mindful breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing.

Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self

The Bhagavad Gita