If you started doing yoga for a smaller/tighter/shapelier butt (or any fill in the blank body part), GOOD LUCK. You might get it, but you have no idea what else you’re in for.
Strap yourself in for a no-holds barred roller coaster ride complete with mental breakdowns (or breakthroughs), tears, joy, anger, disbelief and self-induced drug neuro-chemical highs. Wheeeee!
The first yoga class I walked into is a testament to yoga as a tool for transformation. My final thoughts before class began:
What in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks did I get myself into?
Wanna know my reasons for starting yoga? Back pain, weight issues, desperation, and oh yes… I wanted to be firmer around the waistline of course. Sound familiar? Thought so. I knew there were a whole lotta poses I would possibly only fantasize about, and would certainly wince at the thought of a body part contorting in ways I soon came to witness.
photo credit: edwardyanquen
This isn’t the first time I started a relationship for superficial reasons. In kindergarten I kissed a boy because he had cool toys. In middle school I played sports to fit in with the jocks. In high school I listened to all the pop idols on the radio!
Something changed for me musically in college, thankfully.
College is where I discovered local music, and through this, I discovered amazing artists who were not on the radio. What a novel concept. AND they touched me…in a special way… in my special place. My heart y’all! My relationship with music from then on, morphed from this superficial fling into a deep entrenched love affair.
I’m having a similar experience spending time with myself, a semi-rubber mat, and 20+ other strangers 3-5 times a week.
Truth is folks, it doesn’t matter where you start or how you finish. What’s important is WHY you stick with it. Yes, I still do yoga for less back pain, flexibility and a smaller ass, but I’ve added a few more personal reasons to the list. My new love letter reads:
I started doing yoga BECAUSE of my body, feeling scared and willing to try any new something. I knew yogis were doing something right, I just never thought I wanted, could or would morph into one. I got real feelings and now the more I learn about you, the more I fall deeper. Now I do yoga FOR my body, mind and soul. I’m ready to shout it from the rooftops. Yoga….I think I love you.
photo credit: erin MC hammer
And guess, what? You know those feelings I had going into my first class, that’s usually the best way to begin anything. Unaware, we stay calm. Curious, we stay searching. Protective, we stay safe. Driven, we stay focused.
Along the way, we all hit that fork in the road, and we have this decision to make. We can stick with it and follow the unknown road ahead or divert to an old and familiar path. I decided to take the path less travelled. And what I’m realizing is I must retain those unaware, curious, protective and driven inherently natural qualities. Then I began to embrace why I started practicing yoga, what my purpose was and how its ever-changing.
Literally, minute by minute depending on the pose and my day, the reason why I came to my mat is as random as picking winning lottery numbers. Is the purpose of our practice to be the perfect yogi or to feel perfect in our practice no matter what the purpose? Will the purpose change? Who really cares? If you said you, then you are missing the point of yoga.
Yoga is no fad. From what I’ve seen and experienced, it draws devoted, courageous practitioners who find their purpose, every time they step on the mat. Purposes evolve, multiply and inspire us to keep going.
Finally I decided to stop fretting about the details and started appreciating the practice. I started embracing my reasons, whatever they were and finally started enjoying the intangible unexpected benefits yoga provided me, like sanity….
I dare you to look around your yoga class the next time and point to the new people. Say, “YOU, keep coming, it’s going to change and I am NOT talking about the size of your waistline.” Then throw in a sinister laugh.
Your goal, purpose, intention, call it what you want… doesn’t matter. It’s why you stay that’s important.
Can you recall why you began doing yoga? Is it different from why you practice today?
Regardless of what brought me to my mat to begin with, my practice now is learning to love whatever evolves in my practice. And really when it comes down to it, it’s all about love. And that love, for me, is best expressed through music, dance, and this Haddaway mashup. So here you go, baby don’t hurt me…
Hmmmm… well I started after having surgery. A kind pediatric orthopedic surgeon performed a splice'n dice on both my lower legs, permitting me to heel-toe and walk without pain. Yoga was part of my PT. Is that superficial? After a year, I stopped. One reason was incredibly obnoxious instructors who kept insisting that the reason I couldn't do some poses was because I was "afraid" to push myself, or was allowing fear to control me. Ummm.. HELLO? Some of us might never be able to do a handstand, and not because of a fear issue. Some of us have true physical limitations, and push ourselves as much as we can. And I couldn't afford yoga if I had kids or smoked or blah,blah,blah. Yet yoga teachers keep pushing this "abundence" crap, as if I were entitled to whatever I wanted. WRONG. I'm entitled to what I can afford to pay. In short, I went for my body, but left due to the sick spirit I found there.