yasuko jp en

Yasuko

I stopped getting injured. Before I’d hurt the ligament in my left knee, and I’d easily hyperextend it. But since coming here the teachers properly watch, so first of all I stopped getting injured. That’s the happiest thing.

When you get injured you can’t do it, and even if there’s pain, it becomes scary. Not negative but the courage to challenge kind of disappeared. But by not getting injured and still building muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, when I think “ah, let me try this difficult thing,” the challenging spirit sprouted.

I wanted to try headstand but couldn’t, and during the two months I was going I became able to do it about once. When I thought that things I’d been thinking “I can’t do it, let’s give up,” after working hard for two months even someone like me with no muscle strength and no athletic ability could do it, then in work or my life or various aspects, I became a bit more persistent in not giving up.

That hour and a half is so so fun for me, and after it ends that continues. In that hour and a half of practice, I think about various things like today let’s focus on here.

But at Bikram, even after the same hour and a half ends, it feels a bit hollow. Ultimately it’s like competing over how far you can do poses, and it’s all glass-walled. And there were often petty things like fighting over where to place the mat. Gradually it became not fun. My mood, my heart feels unsettled - that’s the difference.

First, that the teachers properly watch each individual - I think that even experiencing various studios. In a class that’s inevitably an hour and a half, students probably do things freely sometimes, but they don’t miss that. I think they don’t miss it.

To prevent injury, they match each person’s level - I don’t like that term - but they tell you precisely. That’s reliable.

Teaching how to use muscles. At hot yoga or lava yoga the body warms up, so you can do it without using your own muscles. There’s that, but there’s also the scariness of being able to stretch beyond limits.

Since starting Baseworks, I’ve stopped doing that. Before I thought “do I have to do this?” or “do I have to stretch?” But now I can consider my state today, like today if things are good let’s try up to here, or today my condition is bad so let’s watch it here. I’ve become able to do that myself.

I feel like students are on the same level. Like the teacher isn’t superior or anything, though there might be teachers who are a bit like that, and there’s that tendency, but showing none of that here. That’s wonderful.

Taking class together with students and the teacher gives me encouragement. Putting aside the position of teacher and taking it as one human - I can really respect that hour and a half of action. Being able to take it together, as a student I can respect them, and I can see the poses a bit.

Like in today’s practice I could do headstand, but the next day I couldn’t. And at first that made me think I’m such a terrible person. I was negative, thinking that.

But even if I can’t do headstand today, “ah, well I could drop my shoulders today” or “my neck wasn’t tense today” - now those things make me happier. Acknowledging that, accepting that. And the sense of affirmation that I’m fine just as I am - I think I’m in the process of training myself in that now.

I think it’s connected. When you properly take Foundation and do Elements and do Strategy too, you can really feel like “ah, this is where it goes,” like points connecting to lines. I really think it’s good that I honestly followed that cycling practice.

For Baseworks, for my body - I actually almost died from anorexia. Because I’ve been in a state where I couldn’t even climb this level of step. Because I’ve wandered near death to that extent, I know that losing muscle is really scary.

So if I properly have muscle, I won’t get hunched over at 70 or 80, I won’t get osteoporosis - I somehow learned that. So I randomly think I want to convey that. I think Baseworks practice has effects for that too.

Like I really couldn’t do handstands, couldn’t even do somersaults, I was that athletically challenged. But being able to do that. I mean I got to a state where I couldn’t even climb this step because all my muscle disappeared. But even so, I’m 43 now but being able to jump - being surprised that I can jump.

That’s not like other practices would have been fine. It’s that they properly protect conveying that, and they don’t make it the teacher’s individual color. That’s the same whichever teacher you go to.

That’s not really common at other studios. Inevitably the teachers’ individual colors come out strongly. People who like that only take that teacher, they won’t take other teachers at all. Everyone tends to become that way.

But here, whichever teacher you take, if your schedule works, you don’t get that feeling.

Building the foundation of the body properly, training to accept that, and training for the heart to become calm. Being able to accept days when muscles are stiff and today is no good.

At other studios I was often told to do it, and that led to injuries and hurting things, so I honestly thought I had to do it, wherever I’d hurt.

But here when they said “no, you don’t have to do it,” it really blew my mind. I was like “what?” “I don’t have to do it? I don’t have to take the same pose as everyone?” First I thought that. That was surprising.