My recent need to get off my bum and return to shape led to the decision to finally cross the parking lot and into the small yoga studio behind Wells Fargo. The neon lights have been screaming for attention since I moved into my short term home while on rotation. After 3 weeks of eating, desserting, snacking and repeating it all over again, the body has put up a balloon of resistance sitting quite comfortably on my abdomen. Even the constant sunshine and fresh strawberries did nothing to elevate the sinking thickness I felt. The unhealthy eat-and-eat-more routine had to come to a halt.
So armed with nothing more than favourite black shorts and free t-shirt, I went to class a nervous wreck. What if my inability to flex and hold a posture takes me back to middle-school-awkward-kid-being-laughed-at days. But, as usual, it was all in my head. Class was much more light-hearted and less serious than that. Oh, don’t get me wrong, your muscles get stretched, elongated, pulled, tensed and relaxed in all sorts of postions. But I like that instead of a rather monotonous run on the elliptical or treadmill, there was life to this. The lesson had a “philosophical” stance (a little long to elaborate but take my word for it), you hear people breathing around you, you see people lose balance and try to get up again, you notice how everyone is so willing and ready to help you whenever possible.
It was this precise “lifeness” about Yoga that brought me back to class day after day.
It has only been a week and I am no yogic guru but I’m coming into understanding that this will take me a while to get the hang out. There is a chance I will never complete a handstand on my own; there is a chance I will never have my heels down in downward facing dog position; there is a chance, I will never do a chaturanga properly . But by the 6th lesson, none of that means a thing other than I cross the parking lot and show up each day believing that I will continue to go to class even when I return to Singapore.
I cannot blog a lesson a day while I go to Yoga but you can imagine I am truly enjoying the sensations I get throughout my body (including the aching lower leg muscle), something which I haven’t felt in a while. As cliche as it sounds, I am relaxed, less stressed and looking forward to each day because there is a bit more meaning than my job and the amazing company I work at.
I hope its not too late but I am ready to feel alive again.
