A few weeks ago, I asked my hot yoga teacher to look on the system and let me know how long I had been coming to the studio. Jenny said I took my first class on May 5, 2005. When she gave me the exact date, I remembered that going to yoga was to be my birthday gift to myself that year. As my birthday approached, I pledged to take better care of my health and was going to see if yoga could be a part of that. Little did I know that I would find “my thing.”
Through the years I have done various forms of exercise. I had lots of old VHS tapes and DVD ‘s on exercise that I often wore out and many times bought over and over again. I have attended more group classes than I care to remember. However, the thing that has stuck with me and feels most natural to me is hot yoga, more specifically Bikram Yoga. Before Bikram, I tried other yoga classes and I didn't really care for them. In Bikram yoga, you do the same 26 postures in a room heated to 105 degrees. I like the fact that anyone can do Bikram Yoga. You don't have to be athletic to do Bikram. You can be young, old, fit or overweight (Don't judge me!).
Yoga is hard for me, and the postures challenge me each class. Yet, the feelings that I get in yoga I don't get in any other form of exercise. The breathing exercises seem to center me and make me feel so calm and relaxed. The poses push to make demands on my body that I later find allows me to function noticeably better outside the class. My teachers often say that what we do in the yoga room is to help us manage our lives outside class.
My niece Shawn recently started going to a boxing gym for exercise. She told me that she has fallen in love with boxing. My brother tells me she goes quite often. When I talked to Shawn, I told her she looked amazing on recent photos. I told her that aside from her physical change, I was most happy that she found her “thing."
When you find an exercise regimen that speaks to you, that makes you feel happy to even be able to do it, that is a big win for you. That’s when you become consistent and start reaping the health benefits. My hope is that if you haven’t yet found your “thing” that you keep looking.When I started practicing bikram, I hated it for quite a while. I only stuck with because I trusted my reaserach which tauted the amazing health benefits. Don't give up on finding your "thing." It is so well worth the search. This will be the best give you have ever received. It can only be given by the person who loves you the most: You.
