Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Over the course of lockdown and staying at home, I realised that my fitness was really poor. In order to make it better, I decided to start yoga under the supervision of my mother and I practiced it daily for an hour.

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

Through this experience, I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses in terms of my physique. I learned that my body was quite flexible and I was able to perform asanas like ardha matsyendra asana with minimal efforts. However, I also learned that my stamina was poor. For example, just doing four surya namaskars would make me tired. Now, gradually, I am able to do ten surya namaskars with comparative ease. 

LO 2: Demonstrate that they have undertaken challenges, developing new skills in the process. 

Yoga is quite challenging because it requires inner peace. It is a balance between physical activity, meditation and concentration. One of the biggest problems I face is maintaining concentration while meditation. I am quite a fidgety person and lose concentration often. It wasn’t easy to maintain concentration while doing pranayam or even simple guided meditation. However, with the aid and guidance of my teacher, I was soon able to learn how to stay calm and focus on my body and mind while doing yoga.

LO4: Show commitment and perseverance in their CAS experience.

Perseverance is actually what has got me through doing yoga. Initially, I was quite demotivated and embarrassed because I could not do asanas that are actually quite easy. At times, I just wanted to skip a session or stop the classes, but my brother kept on motivating me and supporting me to do yoga, and now I am proud to say that I have been doing yoga for 3 months.

LO7: Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

Picking this experience made me more aware of the needs of my body and mind. It made me more curious about the elements of the body and how doing yoga and meditation influences them. In addition to this, I also began to contemplate our way of life and qualities that we acquire from traditional experiences, that are unfortunately lost because of a busy urban life. It made me question to what extent it was ethical of me to avoid the needs of my body simply because it took effort. Overall, this experience has inspired me to focus more on my physique and fitness, and has made me aware of my own ignorance.

Learner Profiles

I have demonstrated several learner profiles:

• Reflective – I assessed and evaluated my strengths and weaknesses regularly during the course to try to improve on my fitness, concentration and focus.
• Balanced – I try to give equal weightage to mental, physical and spiritual activity during yoga.