Yoga.
Yoga, yoga, yoga.
I started going to yoga again in September. I was long overdue. This yoga is a bit different, a bit more advanced than the yoga I did last fall. I love it!
Physically, yoga has been a real eye opener. I've always thought of myself as a physically strong person and I've prided myself on my muscle definition. There's muscle definition and there's holding the chair pose until your quad and glutes are screaming in pain and then pushing yourself to hold the pose a few seconds more. My posture has always been kind of poor. I'm a sloucher. Turns out I am not the slacker I thought I was, I just have very weak muscles in my back. The day after every class I feel a new soreness in a new muscle, one that I didn't even know existed. I've long been plagued by running/triathlon injuries, namely as tight hamstrings, tight IT bands, tight hips and tight quads. All summer my running was awful because my left hamstring has been so tight. Yoga has loosened all of these tight places up. When class is over I feel like I could ooze out of the studio.
Mentally, yoga has been amazing. When I started going in September I went once/week. I am now going 2-3 times/week. The Thursday instructor, Alex, is incredible. I always feel like he's talking directly to me when he's talks about noticing how active your mind is and when he talks about breathe as a measurement of frenetic energy. School has been awful this semester and I internalize everything. For an hour and a half two to three times a week my mind quiets. It doesn't go silent, it's always humming, but it quiets. I leave the studio feeling calm, focused and grounded. The feeling doesn't last forever, but one day it might.
I am grateful for the quiet yoga has provided.
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