Yoga

This morning Jeff and I went to our ritual Saturday morning yoga class, followed by our ritual coffee at the coffee shop down the street. 

Since November of last year, Jeff and I decided that it would be great to start up a yoga practice. So, we enrolled in a beginner Hatha series at YogaYoga and it has stuck ever since. Like anything, we've had our ups and downs practicing it more some weeks as opposed to others. But I've noticed how it's really helped me in so many ways. I missed a week of it and realized how much it really helped my sanity. Every time I leave a yoga class I feel more at peace with myself and my surroundings, my mind is at rest and my body feels alive. 

Not only has it been great for our minds and bodies, but yoga has become a great way for Jeff and I to explore something together as a couple, which has enriched our relationship tremendously. We both had mutual interest in trying it out and have kept the interest after several months of practice now, and I'm thankful that we can both look forward to sharing the experience together. 

Next week I'll be trying another beginner series in Ashtanga yoga, and I'm really excited about learning another form of yoga. There are so many forms of yoga, and so many approaches to it, that it has been a great learning experience. It's not about getting your body into a pretzel and becoming a new age hippie, like most of us initially assume. It's so much more. Each practitioner and each class bring something new to the table. I've learned how to relax, how to breathe, how different poses affect your body (even your bowel movements!), where I am strong, where I am not so strong, where I'm flexible, where I'm not so flexible... I've had practitioners incorporate chanting, poems, physiology, mantras, and even spirituality to a certain extent. I look forward to doing prenatal and postnatal yoga when and if I get pregnant some day, and continuing the practice throughout my old age.  There's even pet yoga; although, even being the pet lover I am that might be where I draw the line. 

Here's a great article about yoga and pets.