My Introduction to Yoga
I only began doing yoga about three years ago. I wanted a "yoga booty," tight core, and open hips. Though it was no spiritual quest, and I was not making an attempt at changing my life, there were many gradual changes, unknown to me, that began with that very first (sloppy) downward dog..
My first goal, splits and handstand, were high considering I was nowhere close to attaining either one of them, but "reach for the stars and even if you miss, you'll end up on the moon." Right?
Now, almost three years down the line, I still haven't completely mastered either technique, but I am getting pretty close. I learned that progress is not only measured by the skills one acquires, but the effort and progress that comes out of a dedicated practice. Also, different people advance at different rates, so using other people as a point of reference is not always helpful. .
Before beginning my yoga journey I never would've claimed to be fit. I wasn't even a healthy eater. Fast food dollar menus and I never made it a point to work out. The starvation diet was always easier then working out and eating healthy.
For most of my earlier yoga adventures I continued on that same path. I felt no need to change the way I was eating or the way I treated my body if I was becoming more flexible and getting skinnier and stronger. Eventually, that gave way to a new found respect for my body and it was no longer logical to be working so hard on my body only to ruin it with garbage food, and neglect. Finally my choices were starting to become healthier.
(Side note - now that I work out, and eat healthy foods, not only am I fifteen pounds lighter, and a constant weight, I eat all day, every two hours, and never think about if what I eat is going to land on my butt or gut.)
Luckily for me, I have a few good yoga teacher friends, who are always very helpful anytime I have questions.
Eventually my questions lead to a conversation about yoga teacher training. I was surprised and encouraged upon learning how easy it is to become a certified yoga teacher. The idea of making a living doing something I love filled me with excitement. However, I realized, I was not yet quite ready to take on this task.
I still have a lot of class material to learn before I consider myself ready to teach other people. There are also some physical goals I still would like to reach, before I even think about starting teacher training. I am, actually thinking about doing some business classes in the meantime while I continue to prepare myself physically, and mentally. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. This is something I care about so I don't want to do it half assed.
So I begin to study. I read things online. I download free yoga books to my phone. I looked up YouTube videos, and started to learn about the teachings of yoga. I learned about the Yamas and Niyamas. I studied chakras, and The Eight Limbs Of Yoga, anything I could find. I was thirsty for knowledge.
Someone very close to me once said, "Don't speak about it. Be about it." Wise words that many cannot live by, or choose not to live by. I am no better than anyone else, and often found myself guilty of this, what was I going to do to change it? I realized that if I wanted to become a good teacher it would be necessary for me to be a good example as well.
The teachings of yoga are good ones and I was unable to find any reason not to apply these things into my day to day life:
Being understanding, and tolerating, honesty with ourselves as well as others, avoiding endless chattering with no clear purpose, not coveting things we do not have, and appreciating what we DO have, eating healthy natural foods, looking at yourself before judging others, what purpose, surrendering. The list goes on.
All of these things seemed very positive, and reasonable, to me. If there was a reason not to attempt undertaking them in my day to day life, I couldn't see it, so I decided that was going to "be about it."
Recently I took some time off from Asanas to complete a month long, four day a week, endurance and bodybuilding course. Needless to say I was more than a little bit excited to get back into yoga.
In my off time I still tried to keep my mind open and focused on my goals. I abstained from junk food, and eased myself into an all natural, mostly organic, diet.
Back into Asanas for a month now, and I'm ready to grab life, and yoga, by the balls.
LETS DO THIS THING!
