Dear Yoga, Thank you. Sincerely, my knees
I can think of many words to describe my body and athletic ability, most are diplomatic, some are, well borderline mean. My physical heyday was circa 2007, when college cheerleading and boundless energy had me at an average weight without much effort. While I’ve never experienced thigh gap I was good…thick, but good. The next few years brought along a serious weight struggle, one that I’m still fighting and it appears that this weight thing has a poltergeist effect, meaning no matter where I go it follows me.
I’ll dive further into this topic later but for now I want to share how yoga changed my life for the better. You see in addition to re-vamping your relationship with food most would agree that physical activity, of any kind is beneficial. Therein lies the problem, at my heaviest I simply did not want to do anything remotely physical. My feet hurt, my heart raced and its terribly uncomfortable hauling around extra pounds no matter how kick ass your boot camp instructor may be. I eventually did get enough strength to (almost) keep up with my fellow Zumba lovers and strength trainers however yoga is really what lead me there. Yoga allows for the ultimate in flexibility (no pun intended) since almost any pose or stretch can be modified to your own comfort level.
There’s also no dreaded high impact moves not to mention the dimmed lighting and meditation really allow this practice to become personal. I oftentimes think that when we are at our worst physical shape we must dip deep to find something…anything that will get us up and moving. For me, yoga was the answer. My first ever yoga session was laughable, my poses unrefined, my balance non-existent and while it’s not a cardio fest like sweating to the oldies its plenty workout when you’re just starting out.
It is a slow process, but eventually the stretches lead way to core stabilization which lead to faster flows and eventually I’m sitting in a 90-degree room fantasizing about quitting my job and backpacking through Bali. I have a friend, Jessica who said the most spot-on thing regarding exercise. She said, “I think I’m allergic to working out, I tried it and I couldn’t breathe, my face turned red and I was really hot.” I hear you my dear, so if you can relate fear not, you will find your groove, just never stop searching.
