Letter to Yoga

Salutation Nation - 074
Originally uploaded by lululemon athletica

Dear Yoga,

I tried you for the first time 9 years ago in my old apartment. It was not love at first sight.

A friend from the office had let me borrow her yoga videotape because she was certain you would be my thing. So there I was staring at a guy in red pants, chanting “namaste” and telling me to mold my body into positions named after dogs and farm animals and birds. I made it through 7 minutes of the tape before I opted for workout plan #2: lifting a wooden spoon from a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream to my mouth while watching old episodes of Dawson’s Creek.

Back then I would never have imagined I'd be as in love with you as I am today. After a year of committed yoga practice, you are stretching me, opening me and centering me in beautiful ways. I'm so grateful to move from "doing" yoga to actually practicing yoga in the past year.

I breathe into difficult poses now. I am learning to soften when necessary, to focus when needed. I have twisted and stretched with the intention of opening my heart. I lie in savasana in centered silence, looking forward to what God might be able to whisper to me in my quiet moment. I try to take the benefits of those moments and the heartbeat of namaste into my everyday.

This year my life has been stretched and bent and twisted in unexpected ways--some welcomed, some escorted by pain. But you have taught me to breathe. Just breathe.

And you have also taught me to appreciate community. Maybe that's what I was missing 9 years ago trying to discover you on a screen in my apartment. I read an article recently that said yoga is beneficial in many settings, but the heart of it is communal.

Yes.

While I'm developing a home practice (which rivals Ben & Jerry's now for sure), I look most forward to my Monday night classes and the community you have brought me each week through yoga. I see God in and through them. I feel their support, encouragement, love and passion. We all need community.

I can't wait to practice with them tonight.

namaste.

Ciona