Saturday, September 22, 2012

Why I Love Yoga

Until last week there was a bright pink yoga mat sitting in the trunk of my car.  Poor thing had been sitting back there for well over a year collecting dust and feeling neglected.  I thought about my bright pink yoga mat from time to time reminiscing about all the good times we use to have together.  Until recently those days were long gone.  I moved, cancelled my gym membership, and got back into distance running.   Last week at work I attended a training that inspired to me to rescue my yoga mat from the trunk and put it to good use.  

The training was on secondary trauma.  Turns out when you spend 40+ hours a week working with the same folks you see on the nightly news you absorb a few things and if you don't have good self care you'll make yourself sick and crazy.  For a long time running has been my biggest coping tool, but recently I've been burnt out on it, which is basically a nice way of staying It's been a while since I put any miles on my Nike's. Which brings me to my yoga mat.  After the training I walked away and really thought to myself, "um, self, you have really inappropriate coping skills right now.  Drinking wine while watching Project Runway does not count as a coping exercise.  You can eat a whole lotta leafy greens, drink gallons of tea, and walk all over the damn place, but if you're stressed out beyond belief you're not going to feel as awesome as you want to."  So I went to my car rescued my mat and subscribed to My Yoga Online.  That evening I unrolled my mat, did a 45 minute practice while my fiance looked at me like I had lost my mind, and then went to bed where I slept like a baby.  Turns out this whole yoga thing really ties in well to my new nightly routine, which has been incredibly valuable by the way.  A weird thing happened the next day, I woke up on time and I felt great. When I got to work I was happy focused, and best of all calm. 


I've done some cool things in the last couple of months, changed my diet, upped my movement, and developed valuable routines, but I have a feeling this whole yoga thing might trump everything in awesomeness.  I've been doing yoga every night for the last five nights, and friends, if you haven't tried yoga you're missing out.  I still have a long way to go if I want to do some the beautifully scary looking poses but I know that with time, patience, and practice, it'll come.  Who knows, maybe I'll actually join a real class again.  

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