Your Good Heart

I had an interesting conversation with a middle aged woman working in a clothing store the other day. She was telling me she was getting back to the gym after a three year hiatus. When I mentioned if she had considered yoga, she said yes but she was scared to death of it.

I think it's sad that yoga has been heavily branded to be for the young and beautiful who look great in spandex and can wrap their legs around their necks like a Cirque du Soleil performer.  But what about the rest of us? 

It's no surprise that stepping into a yoga class for the first time can be very intimidating. I too must admit that when I take teacher courses and workshops I'm well aware of my limitations compared to others. But I've also learned to love what I can do and to just stay open to growing in my own time.

It's a humbling thing to bring our imperfect selves to the mat especially in a culture that values perfection. But that is precisely what yoga is about. It's about compassion, not competition- about loving our bodies, not loathing them. And it's about setting down the weight to be better, so we can lift our hearts to just be.

Yes, yoga is about stretching, and strengthening, balancing and breathing. But it's also about coming home to ourselves, and embracing the 'joyful mess' of our humanness with kindness and acceptance.

So if you're scared to death to step into your first yoga class, remember-  just bring your good heart- that's all you really need.  Spandex- totally optional. :)

Namaste. _/l\_