I was drawn to yoga as a college student 13 years ago. I was in a transitional time in my life and yoga offered some sort of refuge from the stress of the unknown. On the floor of my dorm I perched a yoga book against the bed and began exploring yoga poses and what was exactly happening to me as I held each pose. Sometimes in the simplicity of a pose I would find my mind wondering or bored. Harder poses where I lacked strength or flexibility I would give up on or hold back on challenging my body. But somewhere in between the limitations of my body and the chaos of my mind I found myself coming back to the practice especially when I felt “stressed”. In the beginning just the act of shutting off the TV, turning on relaxing music, lighting a candle and maybe doing a handful of poses until I got bored or tired began to restore my mind and in turn relaxed my body. Of course I judged this effort in not being enough. I thought I “should” be doing an hour practice, I should go to more yoga classes, I should be more flexible, stronger, and whatever other “should” I come up with.
But today I realize that what I did do was nurture the seed that I planted to begin a journey towards a yoga practice that would take me deeper physically, mentally and spiritually. You have to start somewhere, and where I started didn’t have to look perfect, it didn’t have to be all or nothing. If I could continue to commit to showing up even in the simplest way everyday, I would invest in myself and I would grow.
Yoga continues to teach me to surrender my mind and body to be in the moment, to allow myself, with all of my limitations to be present, to hold the space for growth at my own pace. And just maybe today I will push past those limitations, maybe in micro movements or maybe in leaps, but all in the safety of acceptance of myself, of others and with the inner eye of awareness. Today, that is the intention of my practice and as a teacher I honor and nurture that for my students.
As we enter into the New Year, spending time with family and friends and begin to prepare for all those new beginnings, it becomes ever so important to make the effort and the time for a yoga practice. To quiet my mind of all my judgments of all the “shoulds" in life, and connect with awareness, peace, acceptance, compassion, balance, strength, and all of the themes that a yoga practice connects me to on the mat, so that I continue to carry that out to my life off of the mat.
What draws you to a Yoga practice today? What drew you to Yoga initially? What does your practice give you? I'd love to hear
