My Mat
A Love Affair
My home yoga practice has long been The Thing that saved my health and my sanity. I started ‘doing’ yoga over twenty years ago. Every morning. To save myself as work stresses mounted and I progressed through menopause without the benefit of any hormone replacement therapy.
My mat became a place of sanctuary. I found my center, eased my aching muscles, relieved my migraines, calmed my racing thoughts, learned to live in the present, and fell into the peace of corpse pose at the end of every session.
And then — I would step into My Life.
Over time, I changed. Yoga changes you. Subtly.
At first, the frustration of only being able to stay in certain postures for a few seconds ground against my ego. The inability to ‘excel’ and to have to take other postures completely out of the equation was humbling. But all part of the lessons. I stopped fighting My Body. I began to see her as the beautiful gift she is. I blessed her for all she could do. My mind stopped the criticisms of all the things she couldn’t do. And just like that — ‘she’ became ‘we’.
United. Yoked. At last. Mind and Body.
Today when I practice, I feel each muscle group respond as I stretch. Yoga cured my plantar fasciitis that plagued me when I was an OR nurse. Yoga cured my golfer’s elbow. Yoga keeps my…
