what’s with this whole ‘yogurt’ thing?
“I’ve been thinking about trying this whole ‘yoga’ thing,” confided an 18-year-old guy who stopped by the studio one summer afternoon.
I smiled and clapped my hands together in excitement. “Oh, you should! It’s great, I think you’ll enjoy it.”
He grinned at my enthusiasm. “You do this stuff then?” I nodded. “Well, what has it done for you?”
The question stopped me dead in my tracks. It was the delicate adjustment of his words – rather than asking me what, in general, yoga accomplishes on average, he wanted to know specifically about MY experience.
“Well… wow, I haven’t actually been asked that. Hm…” I began to go through my brief list of medical history in my own head, and began to notice that most of the things I didn’t identify with anymore.
I realized I had not had an anxiety attack since I had begun practicing – and not because of a lack of things that could stress me out. My chronic headaches were much less than chronic. As a matter of fact, at that very moment, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been bed-ridden with a migraine. My over-dramatically low blood pressure had not been an issue when I went to the doctor a few weeks before. My feet were no longer swollen from plantar fasciitis when I woke up in the mornings. Through being more mindful of my body’s needs, I was eating healthier and I suppose I had lost about thirty pounds in the first six months…
I was smiling more.
I was happy in my career.
I was hopeful.
I felt good about myself – from the inside out.
As I rambled through my spur-of-the-moment realizations to this kid, I was more and more impressed with all of the changes in my life that I had not even noticed. It made me realize that the process of yoga is never-ending. There is always more in your life that is shifting than what is seen, even when you ARE seeing changes.
He came back and took a few classes, and then I did not see much of him once summer was over. But I wonder, when he relays his experience of yoga to friends and family; what will he say yoga did for him?