Yoga — Day One

Today’s theme: GRATITUDE

Gratitude is my one of my greatest foundations in life so I’ll start this 30-day journey by saying THANK YOU to the universe. After all, it was gratitude that led me to yoga in the first place…and it is gratitude that I think about every time I get on the mat. I am grateful for the time and the space to do something that not only feels good, but is also so good for me.

I thought about trying yoga for years before I actually started. Fear held me back. Fear that I couldn’t do some of the poses; fear that I would embarrass myself; fear that I wouldn’t be good enough.

I finally decided that the only way I could try yoga was to do it in the privacy of my home. (I’ve been practicing yoga regularly for months now, but I’ve only been to a yoga studio once.) I’m grateful that I was led to two outstanding online yoga instructors who offer a wide variety of yoga videos FOR FREE on YouTube (Fightmaster Yoga [fightmasteryoga.com] and Yoga with Adriene [yogawithadriene.com]). I am also grateful to YouTube and to Google for all the information I was able to locate about yoga when I first started practicing.

I now understand that yoga is for everyone, and this makes me grateful. Women and men, young and old, fit and out of shape, able-bodied and challenged. No matter who you are, where you come from, or where you hope to go, yoga can help you get there.

I’m grateful that I now understand that yoga is so much more than a physical practice. Yes, poses, twists, and stretches are important, but so is breathing, stillness, and mindfulness.

Yoga can be as simple or as complex as we want it to be. For this I am grateful.

Gratitude led me to the mat for the first time last summer, and gratitude continues to get me there nearly every day. I am grateful for the way I feel during and after my daily yoga. I’m grateful that yoga is helping me stretch and bend, breathe and relax. I’m grateful for the confidence I feel — even though I’m not an expert (probably never will be) and I still lose my balance and stumble, or simply feel ridiculous at times.

Like life, a yoga practice is meant to grow and change over time…as we grow and change. Today I am grateful for the understanding that continual growth and change are the keys to a happy and successful life.

More than anything else, I’m grateful that it’s never to late to learn something new!