I have been practicing yoga for about eight years now. I started when I was sick because everyone told me I should. I would go to classes, lie in these seemingly ridiculous postures, and leave class checking my recent text messages and feeling like I'd just wasted 90 minutes when I could have been so much more "productive." But I stuck with it because I thought it was what I was supposed to do and how I was supposed to do it.
Yoga is an ancient practice that developed thousands and thousands of years ago and is steeped in loads of tradition and wisdom. Its original purpose was to help get the kinetic energy moving and released from the body to invite in longer meditation practices. Here's the thing though -- we're not living 5,000 years ago. In fact, more has changed in the last 100 years than in the 4,900 that preceded them (or something like that). Yoga for us is the movement part of our day, not preparation to sit and be still.
What happens if that ancient practice doesn't mesh with your modern groove?
On today's episode of Meghan TV, Amber Joliat, founder of Misfit Studio and featured teacher on the Wanderlust circuit shares an awesome 5-minute yoga flow that you can rock in the morning, in the way that feels just right for you! Do it!
Do you feel bad for not fitting the "yogi" mould? Do you push yourself to go to classes and then spend the time waiting to leave? If you don't want to be there, how is that helping?
Yoga is what we want it to be and what we need it to be. The only part that matters is that you move. Move in a way that connects your body to your breath and you are yoga-ing.
Now tell me: What first got you on the mat? What does your yoga practice (whatever that may look like) do for you?