Tips From a Reluctant Yogi
On Living Life Off the Mat
I am not a team player, or a joiner, or someone who likes to participate in large group activities. Which is why it takes every fiber of my being to get to a yoga class. Every single time. For the past almost 15 years.
It’s not that I don’t like doing yoga, it’s just that I have the kind of personality where I have to force myself to do everything. Even things I want to do. Which is why the following tips, all learned on the mat, have helped me live a more yogi-ish life off the mat.
SHIFT THE ENERGY
For me, yoga has been an acquired taste (see first sentence above). And yet, I keep going because despite my resistance, it feels good to connect breath with movement, get my heart rate up, and stretch my limbs (and mind) in a way that feels good.
I have found that shifting negative energy to positive can be transformative. In one of my first more difficult yoga classes, I was holding a pose on one foot, arms and legs stretched out in different directions as the instructor weaved between students offering words of yogic wisdom, something along the lines of “just breathe through the discomfort.” I wanted to punch him. I kept thinking, “I hate him, why is he making us hold this pose for this long?!” But then I decided that my negativity was making things…
