I had been thinking about attending some kind of yoga class for thirteen years before I finally showed up at Bikram yoga in June 2004. Then when I did show up it with was a lot of preconceived notions about yoga. It didn't take long to discover that I was wrong about most of them. I had been working out regularly for twenty years but nothing could prepare me for what I was about to encounter in the yoga room.
Yoga is much more physically and mentally challenging than I realized. If I had known that before I set foot in the yoga room I would have been even more intimidated than I already was. In addition to being clumsy, awkward, and inflexible, especially in the beginning, I was also frustrated. The postures looked easy enough. Why couldn't I do them? After a couple of weeks I found that I had aches and pains in places I didn't even know I had. No wonder I was so frustrated and ready to give up.
I came to class every day and spoke to my instructors and fellow students about my pains and what I could do about them, only to find out that my body was detoxifying and healing old injuries. Everyone said that what I was feeling was perfectly normal. They all told me to keep coming and not give up. So I listened to the people who had much more experience than I did. It turned out they were right.
Not only did the recently acquired aches go away but so did the joint pain in my hands that I'd had for months. The spider veins on my legs have almost disappeared. The aches and pains I was experiencing have now been replaced by muscles that I never had before. Even more importantly than the physical attributes are the mental ones. I find that I have much more focus and concentration in other areas of my life. I've also learned about the power of my thoughts. Although I still occasionally find myself allowing negative thoughts to creep in, I'm now aware when it happens and I try to replace those thoughts with positive ones.
Thanks to Stacey, Sherri, Ericka, and all my fellow students for your support and encouragement, not to mention the laughs. You help me make it happen.
