Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Back on the Mat

Yoga isn't something that I came upon naturally. I grew up in a family that leans more redneck than hippie. My family values hard work, and part of proving that you put in a hard day's work, is coming home stressed.  I followed that mantra for years until it started to take a toll on my health.

My first yoga class was part of a healthy living series that my health insurance paid for. It was a weird, surreal experience. I remember lying on the floor, listening to bells chime; the instructor whispering, "let all of the tension of the day flow out of you."

"Not gonna happen," I thought.  "I can't believe I'm supposed to waste an hour lying on the floor. I have an hour commute home after this, then dinner to make. Why did I sign up for this. I'm so bored!"

An hour later, the bells started to chime again. We wiggled our fingers and started to "bring ourselves back to our bodies." I stood up, slipped on my shoes, and headed for the car. But boy, I felt weird. What was wrong with me?At that moment it hit me, I was relaxed. I don't think I had ever felt that feeling before.

I was hooked. Unfortunately, the evening class became harder to schedule so I moved into a home practice. I was practicing pretty regularly and getting great results, although recently I've slacked off.

I fell prey to a petty lame excuse, and you are looking at him. His name is Benjamin. He's wild and sweet all rolled into one, and ever since we brought him into our home, we have had to do some serious "baby proofing."

Benjamin loves yoga. He loves walking under me when I'm in downward dog. He loves chewing on my hair. And he loves bringing me his mouse, dropping it on the mat and meowing. Pretty distracting stuff when you are trying to get your zen on.

Don't worry, I have a solution. Benjamin is going to spend some time in the bedroom while I do yoga in the living room. What creative excuse have you used to stop doing something?

4 comments:

  1. My excuse in the past for not being creative, was that what I produced wouldn't be as good as the result of somebody else's creative endeavours. Now I don't care about that in the same way at all. Being creative, for me, is about expressing a part of who I am, not comparing myself to other people. I learned that over the past year of my creative adventure and it's been very freeing for me. Thank you so much for your lovely comment on my last blog post. It's great to meet so many creative people and to follow their journey's too. I hope you're having a lovely day. Em x

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  2. i don't know that i have any creative excuses; i just stop doing things. :)

    in terms of yoga...my best friend actually took a class about teaching little kids yoga! they even have kids' yoga DVDs!

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  3. I have never actually tried yoga but I've been told I should. I tried Kickboxing with my daughters once..... lots of fun but I must have looked awfully silly....LOL. I'm following you on Blogfrog. Nice to meet you.

    Anne @ http://lessonsthrulife.com

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  4. Yoga never worked for me, but I am hooked on QiGong.
    I used to slag off on all and everything till I got several thigns I like to do and choose every day which I will do on this particular day. Means for a moment I stop, stay still, listen inside and feel what I want. Helped me aplenty
    I remember so well, how often my Oscar incooperated himself into my exercise etc. Now he is put to rest and I wish he still would do so.

    ReplyDelete

Ooh,a comment! How delightful.

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