The Yoga Craze is Catching

The Yoga Craze is Catching

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Being born into a family with an older brother who is obsessed with fitness and body building, I used to think that anything other than running and weight training was for sissies. I'm the first to admit I honestly believed that Yoga was for people that didn't know how to do real exercise. In fact, I only enrolled in the ASA just to heckle my friends who genuinely wanted to do it. I know, that's terrible of me but... sorry not sorry. It was not until my first Yoga session that I figured out that in order to do Yoga, you not only need to be extremely fit but you must also posses a great deal of self control.

In the very first session itself I found myself in the deep end, learning new skills, having never had a Yoga class before. By the end of the session I had not only pushed at my strengths but I also painfully highlighting my weaknesses. Needless to say, I quickly learned that Yoga is most definitely not for sissies. In fact, although I could hold my own in muscle strength exercises such as planks and open-hip lunges, I couldn't stretch half as much as I should be able to. To illustrate this, here is an embarrassing picture of me trying to touch my toes in the triangle position. Key word being trying for obvious reasons.

(I know, I know, it's pretty bad that I could only reach that far... 

Photo credits; Ms. Neiderman)

Anyway, although the skill level that Yoga required pleasantly surprised me, and pleasantly knocked me on my butt, I have to say that I'm hooked on it. The Yoga craze is indeed catching on and me, as someone who used to focus only on running and weights, find it an incredibly freeing activity. I've even found myself practising at home, often giving up an extra 30 minutes after my daily run to try and execute a shoulder stand or stretch out my back, demonstrating perseverance when I fail but try and try again to hold a 30 second shoulder stand. 

It's ineresting, this Yoga, and I'm hoping that by the end of the lessons I'll be able to hold my shoulder stands for extended periods of time along with learning a full routine to practise at home. But first I'll need to learn to touch my toes so here it goes, one step at a time!

Peace, Love and Yoga :)