I've been wrestling a lot of octopi recently, final edits (hopefully) on my book and my hormones/weight being two of the biggies. Slippery, many-tentacled creatures, I'd have one handled, two, three and then four in my control...and then SNAP! Start all over again!
One of the messages I've been getting -- in the form of every book I open, every show I turn on, every friend I talk to -- I HEAR YOU, GOD! -- has been to get back to yoga.
I haven't had a happy relationship with yoga, though, for almost two years. About 17 months ago I hurt my hip pretty badly in a power yoga class with a less than stellar teacher. It doesn't affect my daily life. I just can't sit in anything near a cross-legged position, which is pretty much of a yoga deal-breaker. At least it was one for me when I tried to go back to yoga a few times only to get curious looks from teachers and students when I was accommodating my injury with alternate postures. I grew sick of the looks and also got advice from people I trust that I should stop stretching it, that yoga was probably the wrong thing to do for it.
But then the messages started pouring in and it occurred to me I could do this in the privacy of my own home, just me and my hip, no curious judging looks, as awkward as I want to be. I've been doing yoga since I was 18 so I know what to do but I didn't want to self-guide, I wanted someone fun to lead me through it. So, I said to my hip, "Hey let's start gently, with a yoga video on youtube." My hip liked that idea and googled yoga videos. Smart hip.
The first hit in the list was my new yoga mecca, Yoga With Adriene. She is a Superhero of Love, because man oh man does she have a way of encouraging us to love our bodies and where we are exactly in this moment, like no other teacher I've experienced. Somehow, also like no other teacher before her, she takes me instantly to calm. Seriously. Instantly. I never get distracted or wonder how many minutes are left. This is nothing short of a miracle for me, who listens to podcasts or books AND plays solitaire while on the elliptical!
But my #1 favorite thing about Adriene is she has this incredibly perfect human moments like seeing a piece of lint on the floor in front of her mat and then looking down at her yoga pants with the comment -- mid-pose -- "I seem to have a lot of fuzzies on my pants today!" But when she says it it doesn't even slightly take you out of the moment or distract from the pose.
How does she do it?! Genius! She is delightful and she really knows her stuff.
I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself because of my complex recent relationship with yoga, so to start, I committed to doing her 30 Days of Yoga (recorded in January 2015) because it just drew me. I'm on day 8 but yesterday I did two videos from her other series and today I did one from another in addition to my minimum, because I really wanted to. I wanted to. Seriously, a miracle that I wanted to do more than my commitment. After having a love-hate relationship with yoga for the last few years leading up to my injury, I feel like I am in miracle-ville.
I realize now the hate part was I can't stand being preached to by teachers. But Adriene doesn't preach. She sincerely, gently, suggests. Authentically. That's the difference.
My hip is way better on this Day 8. I look forward to it healing completely. And Tallulah is super happy about this new yoga practice. For the first 6 days she lay two feet away like this, very polite, just out of reach, watching, almost pretending to sleep but totally alert: "What is this new thing my human is doing on the floor? I must make sure I stay awake as it may require my assistance."
Yesterday and today -- with multiple videos and more sweat -- she decided that her assistance would be to lick the sweat off me. I put her nearby stuffed dog on her back, but that didn't deter her.
I may have to wear a head to toe rubber suit to continue my practice with Tallulah nearby but it'll be worth it because....Adriene rocks.
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