I don’t find it in the slightest bit ironic that I took my first yoga class in months just one week after RecoveringYogi’s Facebook page launched. My first three yoga classes, actually. In three days. Holla!
On some level I’m sure it’s the nonconformist in me doing just exactly what no one would expect; but really, there is a much less psychological and much more practical set of factors that just happened to perfect storm together:
- I recovered from tuberculosis just enough to realize I’m bored out of my mind with being in my house all the time.
- I’m having a slow week at work ‘cuz of the holiday, which serendipitously allows me to end my day an hour earlier so that I can get to class without it being so stressful that it instantly negates every positive effect that going to yoga might have.
- At this particular time of year, it gets dark so early that I don’t have the option of an evening hike, which means I don’t get caught up on the indecision maelstrom of whether I’m going to go to yoga or hike, which inevitably ends up with me—emotionally exhausted from the effort of trying to make a minor decision—collapsed on the couch, watching Glee on Hulu and eating enormous amounts of whatever.
- I finally realized that I’m allergic to red wine and stopped drinking it, and thus I have more energy. (Sorry you had to babysit me through that one last “maybe if I just have a few glasses” experiment, Christine. Good news; I can keep water down now!)
- There was a full moon. (That last one had nothing to do with why I went to yoga, but was awfully pretty indeed.)
I think it’s RLAM that one can be a recovering yogi and still go to yoga. Cuz, it’s really not about hating on yoga. It’s about recognizing what’s real about yoga and what’s, well, dumb. There are some things I really do love about yoga. I love the way it makes me feel connected to my body and grounded in my physicality. I love that opportunity to step away from my electronics for a good solid 90 minutes and just be with myself (although, to be fair, I can do that while hiking—or sleeping, for that matter). And the thing I’ve grown to love the most about yoga? The prerogative one has to go into child’s pose or modify the f*ck out of a pose whenever one feels like it.
P.S. Anna Hughes is the bomb diggity.
How incredible are these t-shirts that Vanessa made?
