My Road to Yoga
Sooo, it looks like there are a handful of you that actually want to hear about my yoga experience. Your wish is my command. I figure I’d start this series on how I started going yoga in the first place. I’ve got a whole string of post ideas coming - how I hot yoga during my lunch break, what to bring to hot yoga, some of the favorite things my yoga teachers have told me, my favorite online resources for yoga, and some more I’ll probably come up with later. If you have any specific questions, please ask and I will dedicate a post to answering you.
I’ve done yoga off and on for the past 4 years, but mostly off. Two years ago I bought a groupon for a local Bikram yoga studio and I was totally hooked. I loved the heat and the sweat and the deep stretching I was able to accomplish. I always left feeling like a million bucks (but looking like a million butts. see what I did there?) I totally loved the act of the yoga but I did not love the studio. Like at all. It smelled funky. I found the owners rude. The room where 50 people got super sweaty had a carpet floor. ewww. And they asked for donations for water… from the water fountain. wtf. I didn’t want to pay a premium price for a less than premium experience.
Anyways, I quit yoga and it was shortly thereafter I found the Tracy Anderson Method (TAM). I love, love, loooooove me some Trace-inator and was a loyal follower of hers for 2.5 years. Her method will truly reshape your body and turn you into the hottest, best version of yourself. I did TAM all through my pregnancy and even on my maternity leave once I felt good enough to start exercising again and got the go-ahead from my doctor.
But then, I went back to work. womp womp. Fitting in a full workout that left me feeling good was HARD. When I work out, I want to work. I want to sweat a lot, and I want it to hurt a little. And unless I got up at 4:30 am to get in a workout, that level of exertion was just not possible. And getting up at 4:30 am is impossible. Because in addition to working, I get up early to prepare everything for daycare, get myself dressed and I love to sit down for a 20 minutes sipping my coffee in the morning and reading through my favorite blogs - in silence - before I get Nora up and the day really begins.
I had been back at work for about a month, I was trying to walk during my lunch breaks to fit in some fitness but there was one fatal flaw - my work has no showers I walked a fine line between walking/running enough that I didn’t sweat too much and walking/running enough to get in some good exercise. And honestly, I hate running. hate hate hate hate it. I really appreciate and understand the effort and dedication that goes in to being a serious runner. I ran cross country for 4 years and track for 6, so I get it. But I just don’t enjoy it.
By last August, my 6 pound baby had grown to about 12 pounds and I really couldn’t hold her for more that 15 minutes at a time before my back would ache and I would need to put her down. It was then I discovered a hot yoga studio had opened up about 5 minutes from my office. And, serendipitously, there was a living social deal for that very studio. I jumped at the chance to try it out and haven’t looked back.
I try to go to yoga at least four times a week, but never less than three. It is truly a 45-60 minute (depending on the class) chunk of time I completely and selfishly devote to myself, and it’s about the only chunk of time I can do that. It allows me to bend, stretch, refocus and reconnect with myself. I leave feeling brighter, lighter, better, happier and just plain good. After class, I’m mentally and physically ready to take on whatever other challenges life presents. I am not exaggerating when I say yoga has vastly improved the quality of my life. My back rarely aches when holding Nora for extended periods of time and I find myself taking things moment by moment, which is a great way to not feel overwhelmed on days I am anything but. At this point, I can’t imagine life without yoga.
