Ommm Yoga!

There are lots of things that I love in this world, and two of them are fitness and peacefulness.  I love that I have found a way to combine these two things – feeling peace of mind while doing something physically healthy for your body – YOGA!  I know this is nothing new – yoga has been around for centuries and has been popular in the United States for decades now.  I took my first yoga class probably around five years ago, but it didn’t truly resonate with me until more recently.  I think you need to be mentally prepared to experience yoga to its fullest.  When I used to do yoga before, I was in it more for the exercise and wasn’t really interested in all of the mindfulness.  I have changed a lot though in the past couple years and now I am ready to embrace all that yoga has to offer – both physically and mentally. It also helps that I have found a studio that I really love.  Every time I go there I feel like I get an amazing workout but that I also come away with a more positive outlook on life and a feeling that I want to strive to be a better person.

I have a somewhat long history with fitness.  I remember lifting weights in my parent’s bedroom when I was 10 years old.  Being physically strong was modeled for me as a child – my dad ran every day and lifted weights on a regular basis too.  I’ve always been big on strength and have been weight lifting on and off for the past 6 or so years.  There are so many forms of exercise that I really love, but yoga is the only one that I’ve found that gives me a complete totally body workout, including a workout for the mind and soul.

I feel so at peace especially as the class winds down and you come into shavasana, which means you lie on your back with your arms and legs spread at about 45 degree angles.  Your eyes are closed and you are breathing deeply.  How often do we just lay quietly and let go of everything?  I love that yoga allows for this.  It allows you to let go and release all of the stresses and anxieties of everyday life.

Another thing I love about yoga is that all you need is a mat, or really just a non-slip surface.  All of the strength that you are building is coming right from your own body.  You don’t need a gym and you don’t need 25 pound weights to build strength.  * Although I am still a fan of weights as well 🙂

If you take what you learn in yoga and actually use it throughout your life, yoga should also make you a nicer person.  When you find yourself rushing through the day or being negative, it’s like, wait…what did I learn in yoga this morning?  I need to implement that right now!  Yoga keeps me in check because, let’s face it, it is a journey to be a happy and positive person.  We live in a world where people love to complain and where people often fail to see the positives and beauty of everyday life.  Yoga helps to keep you accountable and pulls you out of these traps when you might be slipping down a dangerous path of negativity.

Yes, I have found a studio that I love, but I also do yoga at home when I don’t have time to do a full class at a studio.  It’s important to me to practice yoga at home as well as at a studio, because if I am at home, I am modeling this for Atticus.  I want him to see that its important to make time to be healthy even in this crazy busy world that we live in.  As he gets older, I see him joining in and practicing with me.  I mean, he’s already almost mastered downward dog.