I first attempted yoga when I was in college. A friend and I decided that we wanted to be flexible and zen, so we went to a local yurt (yes, my hometown is hippieville USA). I figured it would be a nice, slow session of balancing on one foot or hanging out in downward dog.
I was painfully wrong. Apparently, we had signed up for Ashtanga Yoga. (Cue the knowing titterings of fellow yogis and yoginis everywhere). For those of you who don’t know, Ashtanga yoga is pretty much the military boot camp of the yoga world. We didn’t get to meditate into our poses. Instead, we had to go through a series of postures (that I had never learned before) that felt more like aerobic jazzercise than deep, long stretches. Needless to say, I was exhausted and sweaty by the end of the hour.
Cue eight years of vehemently avoiding yoga.
I should preface this next part by explaining one of my life goals. Every year, I have vowed to learn something new. For example, in 2015 I learned everything I could about quantum physics.
In 2016, I decided that yoga would be my new subject. This time, however, I was determined to find a practice that fit my own pace. I decided not to take in-person classes because 1) they were out of my poor-teacher-salary-budget, and 2) I didn’t want to humiliate myself in front of a yurt filled with yogis. (Yes, I know that there’s no such thing as judgement in true yoga, but I live in LA, people).
So I searched the internet for free yoga videos and found this gal:
https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
Adriene seemed to get me. She saw the silly and didn’t seem to care about getting into that “perfect” yoga pose. Thanks to her, my previous yoga fears dissipated into nothingness. I began practicing almost every day and actually felt good after.
To be honest, 2017 hasn’t seen as much of my yogini side (full time jobs make it much more difficult), but I’m setting the intention now to continue fighting the good fight.
So how many of my lovely readers are also yoga-lovers? How often do you practice, and what’s your favorite style?
Also, puppy yoga photos:
Sarah Long Writes 