Day 58: Yoga

My first yoga experience was entirely determined by proximity: the ballet studio was across the hall in the Blatt from a yoga studio. When I arrived to my first day of ballet class, pink slippers in hand, I found out that ballet was cancelled for the semester. The yoga professor invited us to come join her class and so began my journey to handstands and chakras.

Most of that semester focused on building our skills to a sun salutation. Savasana was by far my favorite part of the class and I found the mindfulness that comes with it helpful in managing my insomnia. The class stretched me in physical and metaphysical ways. It was my first exposure to holistic Eastern philosophies and definitely the only time in my life I could balance myself upside down outside of a pool.

I took occassional classes with friends over the next decade, but it was actually my husband who got me back into yoga by encouraging me to join the gym across the street from our house. I was loathe to spend money on self-improvement and he pushed me to get a membership for myself if it was something that I wanted. The pool was a delight and the cardio-cinema made my least favorite type of exercise bearable, but it was the Thursday night yoga class that got me coming back time and again.

The instructor's name was Lezah and from her I learned the importance of breathing. I learned that I could work out my grief through pushing my muscle groups. I laughed falling out of elevated poses or when my body just would not get into a pose at all. I shed as much salt water in tears as in sweat, healing my heart through acknowledging the needs of my body. I connected with someone who came from an entirely different background and with whom I shared an abundance of mutualities.

I honestly cannot remember why I stopped practicing vinyasa; if life got in the way, the class schedule changed, or if I just couldn't find a way to rationalize the monthly gym fees. However, I still breathe out like a lion roars and focus my energy on one joint at a time to get my body ready for the day. When my thyroid medication is off balance and my phalanges feel like piles of stress at the end of my arms, yoga gets me to a place where my hands function again without pain.

Today, I am grateful for yoga because even my intermittent practice helps me focus my mind and relax my body. It is the only physical activity I am confident I can do at any age, so will be able to carry these skills with me the rest of my life.

To see if I ever get around to adding pictures to these gratitude posts, you'll have to keep coming back.