2011 was a very sedentary year for me. I had taken a new position for work that put me behind a desk most of the time and I didn't move around a lot. I would take little walks in the woods near my apartment, but not much else. While on those little walks I would pick up a little stone and when I got home I wrote the date on it. It was my fun little way of tracking my efforts. Through that whole year I picked up 65 stones. That means for 300 days I didn't do jack. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Well my goal in 2012 was to beat that 65. So I added a little calendar to the back of my day planner. Each day I did some sort of physical activity, I would write a little smiley face.
In February a perfect storm of events occurred to bring me to start doing yoga. I had gone once the previous October with my friend Dhriti because she loved it. I would see her each day at the office and she would recount her classes and ask me to return. I promised to go back, but never did. I had found it difficult and I had always had a problem paying to work out when I had access to a good trail or an apartment gym for free.
Well in February Dhriti found a new job and I would not see her on a daily basis any more. She also told me about this special being offered through Voice Daily Deals. $29 for unlimited yoga classes. It was winter and the great outdoors were being less than hospitable and I needed to get up off the couch. So I signed up.
The first time I went back in October, I wore a pair of slick track pants and a t-shirt. I slid around quite a bit and the t-shirt almost choked me when I went into forward fold. This time around I invested in a pair of yoga pants and a sports top with a built in support. I was a little worried that it wouldn't hold, but it managed to keep the right things concealed.
The practice was difficult and I tried my best to keep up. I realized immediately there were a lot of things I would not be able to do. I knew I was out of shape. I knew the only way to get better was to try and so I did the best I could and learned the first and most important lesson I have learned from yoga
Have compassion for yourself This lesson applies to the dreaded twisting moves which I still do not do well and has translated well into my life "off the mat". When I cannot do something, I try my best and forgive myself for not being perfect (or really even close).
For the first month I had to sit down for a bit before being able to walk out of the studio and drive home. I went eleven times in February, more than making it worth the initial investment. By the end of the month I found myself enjoying it more and more, and realizing that I would be willing to invest in a healthier lifestyle. So I signed up on a monthly basis (though the rate is more than affordable).
I determined early on that I could not eat dinner and then do yoga. So I waited until afterwards to do so. The strange thing is that after class I could not bring myself to pick up a hamburger or other fast food. It just felt wrong to eat junk after putting in all that work. So as a result my eating habits changed. Somewhat drastically. Fresh fruits and vegetables found their way into my shopping cart quite regularly. As strange as it sounds, I just had to eat better to make it all worthwhile.
In addition to eating better I also decided to drink only water durng Lent which began February 22. This decision effectively removed caffeine from my system, which made it a lot easier to manage my energy levels throughout the day.
Now I have been going for over seven months, have taken more than 115 classes and have absolutely blown my original goal out of the water (having been physically active for 184 days thus far. Because of my newfound energy and strength I have a new goal to run a triathlon in October 2012 and have already started training (more on that in a future post).
I was reading a book lately that perfectly mirrored my feelings toward my studio:
"This place is great because you get to mess up, to lose your balance a little, lose rhythm, get out of sync and still be okay. Except that we were moving in the same rhythm, in a room where everyone had opened up to being together in the cluelessness, and in kindness." Anne Lamott- Some Assembly Required
