Yoga was not my first choice for a fitness program. I preferred jogging, dancing, kickboxing. I was a gym rat who took body sculpting, core strengthening, and Step aerobics classes. I did handstand pushups, spotted by my personal trainer. When I wanted to slow down, bring more grace into my life, I opted for ballet. But, every now and then—usually when I was injured from training too hard—I’d pop into a yoga class. And while I always enjoyed practicing yoga, as soon as my injury healed, I returned to dancing and running and kicking and boxing.
I didn’t fully fall for yoga until I tried a Synergy Yoga class in Encinitas, California. I was a stressed out mess, in the process of relocating to San Francisco, in a new relationship, overwhelmed with work. I rushed into class late, flustered, prickly. One and a half hours later I left feeling transformed, blissed out, calm. That was in June 1998; I have practiced some form of yoga regularly ever since. I became a certified Synergy Yoga teacher in 2001.
The benefits of a yoga practice, for me, are way too extensive to detail in a blog post. I’d need to write a book for that. My first Bikram Yoga teacher, Mary Jarvis, says, “Yoga will make you better at everything.” I thought that was hyperbolic nonsense until, after a few months of daily practice, I went skiing in Santa Fe. It was my first time on skis in 12 years, and it was the best I’d ever skied. My balance amazed me. Also, the absence of fear that characterized my ski experiences as a teen. That night I drove in a snowstorm on unfamiliar roads from Santa Fe to Ojo Caliente, feeling uncharacteristically relaxed, confident, and competent. After about a year of a regular yoga practice, friends and clients began commenting, often, that I seemed much calmer. “Yoga,” I explained.
Yoga introduced me to the fact that negative thinking is my biggest problem. In practicing the structured Bikram series, yoga became a moving meditation. I was able to observe how my thoughts and breath affected my postures (asana). Negative thoughts led to loss of balance. Short and shallow breath created inflexibility. Practicing yoga in a room heated to 106 degrees F. can be uncomfortable and stir up negativity for me. I observed myself finding someone to pick on in my head during every class. I became so aware of my negativity that there were times I sincerely thought I’d drive myself insane. But I kept showing up in the hot room, became ever increasingly willing to let go of the negative thoughts, to focus on the physical sensations, detach from the mental. Eventually, the negative thoughts ebbed more than they flowed. Feelings of acceptance, tolerance, and gratitude strengthened. I didn’t need to pick on anyone. I didn’t need the negativity.
Years later, as my yoga practice evolved, I began a dedicated Ashtanga Yoga practice, which helped me give up sugar and all processed foods. The daily practice, first thing in the morning, connected me deeply to my body. Off the mat, the practice helped me tune into how my body felt after eating certain foods. Sugar made me giddy, but always led to a crash and cravings for more sugar. Eating pasta and other processed flour products made me feel as if I’d swallowed a sleeping pill. Food’s purpose is to provide energy. I realized my food choices had the opposite effect. That realization led me to a food program that has stabilized my weight and eliminated all bingeing and other unhealthy eating practices. Understanding how food and external conditions affect my body led to reality about my body.
“Yoga gets me in touch with my actual body, rather than my perception of my body,” says longtime yoga practitioner Joy McLaughlin. The quiet of a yoga practice, the internal focus, the keep your eyes on your own mat (don’t compare yourself to others) philosophy all help with bringing us to reality about our bodies. This leads to acceptance and love. And from there, we are positioned to make positive changes, if that’s what we need and want to do.
In San Francisco, I taught yoga for six years to both adults and children. I watched the adult’s bodies transform. One woman lost over 50 pounds in nine months after beginning her yoga practice. Every student gained flexibility and strength. The pre-K to third-grade kids I taught at Lycee Francais La Perouse came into yoga class excited or nervous or tearful, some shy, some needy. All of them became impressively focused within minutes of beginning class. Some proudly told me they practiced yoga at home, with their moms or by themselves. Each class ended the same: every child lying still in savasana, before jumping on top of me for a group hug. The teachers said yoga was the miracle that made their jobs easier.
At age 55, I can still do full splits—left, right, and center—because of yoga. I can even do splits in the air. My yoga practice has enabled me to take up a hobby that was inconceivable before I began my yoga practice: flying trapeze. My fear of heights and my unwillingness to work through fear made trying new things nearly impossible.
All exercise has physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits. The most connected I ever feel to Great Universal Spirit is when I’m jogging somewhere beautiful—Crissy Field in San Francisco, the Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, Lake Scranton. But the most connected I ever feel to my body is when I’m practicing yoga. Yoga sparks my curiosity. I begin to experiment with movement, wondering what it would feel like if I pulled my shoulder back or tucked my pelvis under or grounded down through the heels of my feet. Yoga has made me expert when it comes to my body, assessing what it can and cannot do. And what it can, but should not, do.
The great yoga masters say, “Old age begins in the feet and by the time it reaches the spine, it’s too late.” I know I’ll never have disk degenerative disease—my spine is nearly as flexible as it was when I was 17. Even the loss of flexibility is positive: what I’ve lost in bendiness, I’ve gained in strength. I’m certain I’ll never need hip replacement. Years ago, I developed tendonitis in my right elbow caused by doing handstands with bent arms. After a few shots of cortisone, my orthopedist recommended surgery. My yoga instructor recommended salabasana. I went with the yoga instructor’s advice. Sure enough, within two months, the tendonitis was gone. At an age where some of my friends are losing height, I am a full inch taller than I was when I started practicing yoga.
I know yogis who are asymptomatic for major diseases, including MS, which they credit to their yoga practice. I am not saying yoga cures everything. I am saying that yoga helps the body tap in to its own innate healing power.
The benefits I’ve experienced directly from my yoga practice include:
- Increased strength
- Increased flexibility
- Increased stamina
- Decreased negativity
- Freedom from joint pain
- Increased balance
- Increased energy
- Healing of physical injuries
- Relief from anxiety and depression
- Increased awareness
- Compassion for myself and others
- Desire for a healthy diet
- Desire for a healthier lifestyle
- Fun
- Friendships
- Travel
- Ability to use my breath to energize and calm—depending on what I need—my body and mind
- A portable workout I can do in as little as 10 minutes or up to two hours
- A good reason to always have nicely pedicured toes
- A better singing voice (certain asana keep the throat and ears clear; others increase vocal range)
- A youthful appearance (headstands and other inversions help keep wrinkles at bay)
- Great Instagram photos 🙂
My yoga practice continues to evolve. Today, I practice hot yoga, supplemented by my home practice. I still jog. I still take dance classes. I still do handstands. I’m a flying trapeze artist. I walk my dogs at least an hour a day. Yoga is not the only thing I do to stay fit and flexible. But yoga makes everything else I do easier.
