In the beginning, I personally had so many reasons why I shouldn't do yoga - I was NOT small enough, NOT young enough, NOT flexible enough, NOT fit enough - I was light years away from the women portrayed on the glossy pages of the yoga magazines or the bendy babes promoting yoga clothing brands. I'm not sure in the end why I felt 2006 was the right time for me to delve into this unknown, it just was - but I still had all of those reservations to battle. Whatever the reason, I began my journey with a DVD (gosh maybe it was still VHS!) called "Ali Macgraw Yoga Mind and Body" with teacher Erich Schiffman leading the practise. I couldn't do the whole 50 minute class for many weeks, slowly having to build myself up. And then one day, still with great hesitation I went to my first in-studio yoga class in my neighborhood where the teacher welcomed me with open arms. I can not lie.....I was shocked at how hard yoga was, how hard it was to hold my own arms over my head for a short period of time, how I didn't even know really where my body was in space, how I was so disconnected, so divorced from my own body - the teacher would mention a body part, like sacrum, and I wondered where the heck it was and if I even had one! She'd say "tip your pelvis", and I was like "Tip my whaaaaat?" I remember going home and having to look it up!
Enjoy the beautiful article from fitwoman.com, and may it serve as a gentle reminder to show ourselves more love, more compassion, more kindness on and off the mat - because truly if you have a body and breath, you CAN yoga!