By Sarah Cook
When I started back at yoga the day after Christmas 2011, I was feeling betrayed by my body and defeated by nagging injuries. After 2 weeks of regular yoga practice, I felt well enough to start working out with my personal trainer and lifting weights. Less than a month later, I’m starting to feel empowered and back in control of my body. Today, less than a week into the 40-day challenge, I got a little heady (endorphins from exercising maybe) and committed to my best friend that I would be ready to do the Danskin Triathalon again this summer (I have not done it since 2009).
It takes a lot of motivation for me to put aside my job and the other pressing matters in my life and make that drive to The Yoga Room. Then, in class, I sometimes feel a little antsy and frustrated with certain poses (particularly those where you lunge and twist at the same time). However, I always leave feeling better than I did when I walked in. I’m proud of myself for having the discipline to practice that day, and somehow, my perspective on the world is always a bit rosier. After leaving yoga, I laugh more easily, and I realize that spending an hour or so a day moving my body is an investment—in my health and my sanity.
We all live in a world where there is so much noise, it drowns out the messages our body sends to us. Yoga encourages us to slow down and listen to those messages—and to honor them. This afternoon, my personal trainer told me today that my core seems really strong, and she is convinced it is the yoga. Me? I’m convinced that yoga has made me stronger not just physically, but emotionally. I no longer feel betrayed…I’m starting to trust that my body will, by June 3, 2012, show me the strength and endurance that it has in the past and that I will once again cross that finish line.
Sarah Cook is a Senior Product Marketing Consultant for Dell Storage. Opinions expressed here are her own.