I’ve been practicing yoga two to three times a week for a number of years. During this pandemic, I practiced every single day. I felt great! I felt so great, that I posted recordings of some of the classes for you to take for free if you wish. Posting these classes has reminded me of my yoga journey and I thought I’d share it with you, dear reader. Maybe you’ll be inspired to take a journey of your own.
I cannot honestly remember when I started regular practice, but I do recall my first yoga class.
It was during a trip for my 40th birthday to the Heartland Spa in Gilman, Illinois, (now closed and/or relocated to Lake Geneva, Wis.) with a bunch of my girlfriends. I remember that trip as a lot of fun, bringing together some wonderful personalities, all of whom I knew, but some who were just getting to know each other through me (since it was my birthday party).
And I remember the yoga class. I remember thinking, “Wow! That’s pretty easy.” But I was only just 40!
At that time in my life, things were very very busy. With three active boys, all playing multiple sports, at varying levels of traveling intensity, it was go go go all the time. I was also working, playing tennis regularly and doing the power walk thing. I thought that was enough exercise for me, at the time.
Then–some 10 or 15 years later–my workout buddies and I decided to try yoga at our health club. We took some entry level classes and boy did I find them difficult. And, boring! “Would this torture ever end?” I wondered during class. I had sooo much to learn about my yoga journey, yet.
Nevertheless, besides the boredom and the pain, I persevered. Then one day I noticed yoga seemed easy.
About the same time, my 60ish-aged friend, who also practiced with me regularly, told me how she had slipped on some loose rocks while hiking up a mountain. She said, even though she ended up in a pretty major leg lunge, she caught herself. She righted herself and was fine.
Her balance, core strength and flexibility had saved her from injury. We both looked at each other and said, “Yoga!”
About that same time, I was noticing how I could hold my planks without shaking arms. My lower back pain had disappeared. I had more energy. I had learned to breathe into my discomfort and meditate during yoga practice. I actually LIKED triangle pose!
Now, instead of finding excuses NOT to go to practice, I looked forward to it and made a pact to myself to make yoga my NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.
I reasoned, if my body feels good, if my arms, legs and core are strong, if my balance is good, then the rest of me is good. Everything else flows from there. I also would notice how much harder the class was if I hadn’t been in a while.
You have to KEEP AT IT. You have to prioritize it above all else.
It’s why they call it a practice.
During coronageddon, I started looping in a few friends for daily practices together that I would lead using Google’s MEET ap. Then more and more people began to come. Then we recruited some of our former yoga teachers (all of us being quarantined) to lead us. And more and more people asked to be included.
It was wonderful. We had friends and friends of friends from all corners of the USA. Every day, we gathered on the MEET ap, had a teacher prepped to lead–or I would lead or someone else in our group–and we practiced.
Some people said it truly helped them survive during this scary uncertain time.
Everybody didn’t come every day. But I did. I practiced yoga every single day for like 2.5 months. I felt great!
Now we are back to the health club and things are getting back to normal. It was a wonderful experience and has led to some amazing new opportunities for me including a new job that I love. Talk about reinvention!
If you’d like to participate and practice, I recorded some of the classes. Keep in mind, these are just friends practicing with friends. The teachers volunteered. It was their way of giving back during the pandemic. Creating a community using MEET during this time and practicing daily yoga was truly a life-saving and life-enhancing experience.
Yoga is the elixir of long life. It’s hard at first, but it gets easier the more you practice (like anything in life really!). Practice often and you will remain strong, flexible and resilient. My goal: Yoga forever.
