Back in January I discovered hot yoga.
I gave myself a 30 Days of Yoga challenge.
I made it to about 22 days, and then something happened, I don’t remember what, and I couldn’t get to a class.
Then our schedules changed and a whole bunch of other crap happened, and before I knew it, I hadn’t been to yoga in 5 months.
Last week I got my shit together and got my ass up and went to the 6 a.m. yoga class on Tuesday morning.
All the progress I had made back in January was gone.
But it didn’t matter.
It felt so good to be back.
Why am I sharing this?
Well, for a couple reasons.
One, hot yoga is fucking hard.
It’s hard because it’s hot.
It’s hard because you are pushed out of your comfort zone.
It’s hard because no matter what you do, no matter what level you get to, there is always the next level.
But here’s the other reason I’m sharing this.
While hot yoga is fucking hard, it’s also fucking awesome.
It’s awesome because when you are concentrating on holding a pose. or on your breathing, you aren’t thinking about all the other shit that clutters up your brain all day long.
And it makes you more aware.
More aware of your body. More aware of your mind. More aware of your thought patterns. The unhealthy ones and the healthy ones.
But for me, hot yoga is even more awesome because of the 6 a.m. instructor.
His name is Aaron.
He also happens to be the owner of the studio.
He did not ask me to write this post.
He doesn’t even know I was planning on doing it.
I am just really grateful that our paths crossed.
Every morning he teaches class before he goes to his 9 to 5 job.
And while I know he’d love to be able to make a living off of teaching yoga, he teaches it mostly because he just loves yoga.
And he wants to spread the love.
Whether you are a yoga master or there for your first time, he makes you feel really good about yourself.
He judges nobody.
And he’s unfiltered.
He puts it all out there. His flaws. Everything.
He makes you feel comfortable.
Even when you are really fucking uncomfortable.
And the last two classes I’ve gone to, he’s said this:
You can heal the world in three ways: through touch, eye contact, and a smile.
Isn’t that a great thought to start your day with?
He’s like a really flexible therapist.
And I’m really happy to be back in therapy.
I really enjoy reading your blog. It makes me cry, laugh and feel that I am not alone. What I truly get from you is that you put it all out there for us. You put your goals on the blog and then you either tell us how you succeed Ed or not met those goals. I am a planner and goal setter but they seem to get lost in the day to day life of raising 4 kids 12, 10, 5 & 3. So I know that if I don’t accomplish the task at hand in the time I allotted that I shouldn’t give up on it just get back to it, no harm done and I am not less of a mom for it. So for this I thank you for your honesty and being human!!!