Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Practice Makes Perfect



Yoga has been a part of my life to some degree or other for quite some time. I can’t remember when I took my first yoga class but I do recall that when I came back from visiting a friend in California, it became a more regular stress relief tactic in my life.
My sister was so generous to get me a private yoga session for Christmas at the local yoga studio. I was more than thrilled to use it. I contacted the studio and they put me in touch with an instructor. We then scheduled a session.

The instructor wanted to know a little about my practice and what I wanted to focus on. For over an hour we worked on getting deeper into poses that would help me stretch my sitting focused body. She made adjustments to poses that I was doing well but where I could tweak and change a slight foot or hand to get into those nooks and crannies of my forever seated soul.

By the end of the lesson, I felt so relaxed and gooey from the stretching that I didn’t want it to end. The instructor and I exchanged other information about ourselves and she was incredibly nice and helpful. I really wished all my yoga sessions were like that one (i.e. not worried I’m going to kick the person on the next mat over because the studio was all for ME and ME alone). 

A few weeks later I took a yoga class while I was on a trial membership to my friend’s gym. At the beginning of the lesson, I informed the instructor that I had never taken her class before. This particular form of yoga was all about getting deeper into the poses with use of blocks and straps and holding the poses to get optimal stretches. Again, by the end of class, I was floating on a puffy perch filled with chocolate. It felt lovely to be so light. 

What made these classes so wonderful was not only the stress relief and stretching but also that both of the instructors said I had a ‘lovely practice’. This comforted my whole being. I can’t say that I am an advanced yogi because there are some poses I just won’t do. However, I have been honoring the mat long enough that I felt these comments were deep compliments. It made me so happy to finally get some reassurance for my actions and accomplishments (because we all know I don’t hear them too often at work). It isn’t to say that I was looking for validation in taking these classes in any way. It was an added bonus to know I had done a good job all these years being patient and practicing poses. It reinforced my feeling that with time and focus, all good things can be achieved.

1 comment:

M said...

Just checked out your blog after not looking at it for several weeks and am delighted to see so many recent entries! Writing a post a day during Lent is a great idea and I hope you'll have both the resolve and fodder to keep it up. Very nice post about the evolution of your love affair with coffee, btw. :)