Yoga - Where Have You Been All My Life?
Almost a year ago, I got up the nerve to try yoga at a local studio. This was one of the items on my 60 before 60 list. It was something I had always wanted to do, but never had the nerve! I was absolutely terrified! Yoga was something that other people did...people in big cities...chic people...YOUNG people! But trying to get myself to a healthier place in my life, I put my sweats on, drove the 10 minutes, paid my money, and went inside on trembling legs. Could I really do this? What if I made a fool of myself? What if I couldn't do it at all? What if I'm too old, too fat, too anything?
Well, I survived! And 45 minutes into the one hour session, lying on a mat borrowed from the studio, my wonderful instructor telling us to start relaxing from the top of the head and slowly go down every inch of our body, I was struck by the most incredible revelation.... Why had I wasted 59 years of my life NOT doing yoga? Why? I felt so cheated! This was the most awesome thing I had EVER done! I mean, Seriously!
Now don't get me wrong. I am not particularly good at yoga. When my incredibly flexible dancer/yoga instructor Clare tells us to put our nose to our knee, I chuckle. Yeah, that's not happening! Maybe my eyes looking at my knee, but my nose isn't touching that knee! Not in this lifetime! And when we go into Goddess pose? My instructor LOOKS like a Goddess! Me? I look like an orangutan hanging from a tree. 🐒🐵 It ain't pretty! But you know what? I'm having fun, relaxing, feeling the peace deep in my soul. I am hooked! I don't really care how graceful or flexible I am!
I felt so sure about this new passion in my life that I bought a yoga mat, and bands. Yoga pants? Not so much YET. (We'll revisit the yoga pants later in this post!) And I became "that" person who posts all over Facebook about how wonderful yoga is, and began to recruit friends to go with me. I wanted to share the fantastic benefits of this wonderfully blissful exercise! But with a friend, or without, I go every Monday and Wednesday night (unless I have to work).
In the past few months, I have expanded my exercise routine to include the elliptical trainer and once the time changed, and daylight is lingering longer, walking. I have also gotten back on the healthy eating wagon, and have managed, with the combination of exercise and diet, to lose some weight and tone up a bit. My son Jeremy is super fit, and eats incredibly healthy. So I enlisted his help, and I'm starting to really understand how to be good to my body through food and exercise.
Now...those yoga pants. I have always said that yoga pants should not be made in very large sizes. I also said I would NEVER wear yoga pants. I don't want to be the one that people look at and say "Now that's why they shouldn't make those pants in a large size!" BUT...yeah, I bought yoga pants. One pair. Then another. Boy are they comfortable! I will begin wearing them to yoga this week, and I wear them to walk, with a long shirt of course. I still don't want to be the one people look at and....well, you know!
To sum this all up, get out of your comfort zone. Do something you thought you would never do. Find a new passion. It is never, and I repeat NEVER too late!
Namaste my friends! Namaste!
Well, I survived! And 45 minutes into the one hour session, lying on a mat borrowed from the studio, my wonderful instructor telling us to start relaxing from the top of the head and slowly go down every inch of our body, I was struck by the most incredible revelation.... Why had I wasted 59 years of my life NOT doing yoga? Why? I felt so cheated! This was the most awesome thing I had EVER done! I mean, Seriously!
Now don't get me wrong. I am not particularly good at yoga. When my incredibly flexible dancer/yoga instructor Clare tells us to put our nose to our knee, I chuckle. Yeah, that's not happening! Maybe my eyes looking at my knee, but my nose isn't touching that knee! Not in this lifetime! And when we go into Goddess pose? My instructor LOOKS like a Goddess! Me? I look like an orangutan hanging from a tree. 🐒🐵 It ain't pretty! But you know what? I'm having fun, relaxing, feeling the peace deep in my soul. I am hooked! I don't really care how graceful or flexible I am!
I felt so sure about this new passion in my life that I bought a yoga mat, and bands. Yoga pants? Not so much YET. (We'll revisit the yoga pants later in this post!) And I became "that" person who posts all over Facebook about how wonderful yoga is, and began to recruit friends to go with me. I wanted to share the fantastic benefits of this wonderfully blissful exercise! But with a friend, or without, I go every Monday and Wednesday night (unless I have to work).
In the past few months, I have expanded my exercise routine to include the elliptical trainer and once the time changed, and daylight is lingering longer, walking. I have also gotten back on the healthy eating wagon, and have managed, with the combination of exercise and diet, to lose some weight and tone up a bit. My son Jeremy is super fit, and eats incredibly healthy. So I enlisted his help, and I'm starting to really understand how to be good to my body through food and exercise.
Now...those yoga pants. I have always said that yoga pants should not be made in very large sizes. I also said I would NEVER wear yoga pants. I don't want to be the one that people look at and say "Now that's why they shouldn't make those pants in a large size!" BUT...yeah, I bought yoga pants. One pair. Then another. Boy are they comfortable! I will begin wearing them to yoga this week, and I wear them to walk, with a long shirt of course. I still don't want to be the one people look at and....well, you know!
To sum this all up, get out of your comfort zone. Do something you thought you would never do. Find a new passion. It is never, and I repeat NEVER too late!
Namaste my friends! Namaste!
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