The right brain governs intuition, creativity, instincts, aesthetics, spatial reasoning, and the sensing and expressing of emotions. It is connected to the left side of the body. But in yoga practice we almost always start with the right side of the body. When we do the 2nd side, we mirror our left side as best as possible to the effort and depth of the right side. As we try to match our experience on the second side to the first, this must also cause us to mirror our right brains to our left brains making us a little more analytical and meticulous. What would happen if we began with our left side of the body (right brain) and then, when switching sides, mirrored our experience to the right brain which is more intuitive and connected. I can only assume that this will make our bodies, minds and practices more compassionate, fluid and effortless. I am going to try this for a while.
The only explanation I have ever found for exercising the right side of the body first is that the ascending colon is on the right. So when we move an exercise from right to left we are assisting our bodies digestion and excretion which also moves from right to left through the ascending, transverse and descending colons. Does anyone know other reasons to exercise one side of the body. Encore the other?
I think it is a more simple explanation.. People are, for the most part, right-handed and usually do things instinctively from the right first.. and when teaching, it is just easier to be consistent with the right to left thing.. Funny thing though... as a teacher you are usually facing the students, so mentally we watch the left and are always exercising the "switching sides" .. nice inner exercise of the "teaching yoga practice..":
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