Sanity in Sweat

(This one's for you Emily!)

Yoga has become my Xanax.

Absolutely critical to this girl's sanity.

My family  has gone so far as to say

"Ummm...we like you so much better on yoga"

Nice.

But, it does make for easy leaving the house

when I say I am headed to a yoga class!

They're all like

"Go! Really! You don't want to be late! Go, go!"

Am I really that bad without it?

Apparently so.

I have said it here before

(and this isn't original by any means)

that my mind is a dangerous neighborhood,

and I shouldn't go in there alone.

In yoga...

hot yoga, to be exact,

there is no time to meander into that neighborhood.

Too much brain power is focused on 

remaining standing during balancing poses.

Stretching further, shifting focus,

 and breathing.

Breathing through discomfort.

 Not pain...that's a no go.

But discomfort is where you grow in yoga.

And the breath is 

critical to improving.

The breath is critical to everything.

Sounds positively torturous, I know.

But in getting so deep into yoga,

you get out of your head.

It's almost magic.

Left with nothing to do but focus on balancing on one foot,

the mind is both focused,

yet unbelievably freed.

These past two weeks I have only been able to get in two
yoga classes per week.
Trust me...the family is getting impatient.
They discreetly ask if I am going to yoga each day.

Yoga began as the exercise done to tire the body

prior to meditation.
To wear the body and the mind out so it could finally be
quiet.

Those early yogis were on to something,

and it is no wonder we seek the calm that comes from 

an hour and fifteen minutes of pure sweat and 

supine twists.

I know what you are thinking...
the same thing I used to think when runners said
they got a "high"...from running.
I was thinking "You're high"

Now I get it.
I get that no matter what your "thing" is,
yoga, running, knitting, reading
whatever it is that gets you out of your head
 and into your soul

That's the thing worth doing.

Us yoga junkies and running fanatics,
triathletes and bodybuilders,
girls in the knitting circle and eight book clubs...
we just found a different way to escape the mind
and find the peace.

One. Breath. At. A. Time.

Watch out big pharma!