Bikini Season

Although most of us try to keep in shape throughout the year, the prospect of shorts and swimming suits make summer an exercising frenzy for many. And it's a great time to start a new regime; the sun is up early and sets late, you don't have to battle through snow (usually), and you tend to eat lighter meals when nature turns the heat up. I, myself, have enjoyed adding an occasional 5 mile walk along the Androscoggin River Bicycle & Pedestrian Path. However, as I was watching several joggers pass by me yesterday, the words of B.K.S. Iyengar in The Tree of Yoga came to mind:

It is very difficult for me to explain to Westerners the difference between stimulative exercise and irritative exercise. Take jogging, for example. Medical science says that it stimulates the heart.  But a difference should be made between irritation and stimulation.  The heartbeat increases, but that does not mean that the heart is stimulated. Stimulating means energizing or invigorating, but exercise can also be irritating or exhausting. In jogging, making the heart beat very fast is irritating to the heart... After invigorating exercise there is absolutely no fatigue. Feeling nice after hard work means that the work was invigorating, but feeling exhaustion after ten or fifteen minutes is a sure sign that you are doing irritative exercise. This holds good in yoga too. For example, I might see one of my pupils teaching a pose such as ardha chandrasana (half-moon pose) in an irritative way, with tremendous strain, a tremendous load, a tremendous grip on the fibres. 

I am not saying you shouldn't jog! I know many people who truly enjoy jogging and are even capable of reaching meditative states while jogging. I, on the other hand, would rather be run over by a dump truck than go for a jog. It just doesn't work with my body. What I am saying is that you should check in with your body and find what works for you. Every body is different. Obviously I will advocate yoga to everyone. With a good teacher, literally everyone can have an energizing, stimulating response to yoga! Just remember, whatever exercise you're doing to get into that bikini, make sure you're maintaining ahimsa - non-violence to your body.