Let me just say I've never been particularly active at sports, excercise, and was pretty mediocre at dance as a kid and through college. But when I decided to do yoga regularly it was as much for my mental state as physical. I wasn't out of shape. I hate excersize. I hate gyms full of sweaty, spandexed people. I love to bike, hike and rock climb but it's more of the outdoor experience than the workout.
I was stressed and grinding my teeth in my sleep. It was not pleasant. I had to unwind the tension from work and school. As I finished grad school I went from 40 hours/week at my job plus 10 hours/week in class and 10+ for homework down to just work and one class (thesis, which lasted 30-45 minutes a week). I took to yoga like a fish to water. I jumped in to a month at Freeman Yoga http://freemanyoga.com/ in Fullerton but then moved to Orange. I took a few months off to unpack and settle in. Now I've been at Soul at Home Studio http://www.soulathome.com/ in Tustin for a few weeks. I jumped on a one year pass (unlimited!) which was pretty affordable. I try to make it 3-5 times a week.
When I started I wasn't very flexible or strong but after just a few weeks I thought I was kicking some asana ass. I realized I'm naturally more flexible than the people on the mat next to me. I was able to pull off poses that those suckers next to me would struggle with. My ego loved it. I would nail a new pose and the instructor would tell us "Let go of the ego. Don't punish your body for something you're not ready to do. Don't compare yourself to the person next to you." Yoga instructors are always saying crap like that, which I don't think they believe. They're all awesome at yoga too so they must be confident in their bodies too!
Let go of the ego? Eff that, I thought. I'm awesome! Praise me!
Sometimes the teacher would. I had one instructor call me out and had the whole class (of 20 people) turn to watch me do something. Ego boost!
I did this after a few weeks of yoga, on my first try, much to my surprise: Crow Pose
Stuff like this is more of a mental challenge than physical- you have to calm the voice in your head that says "You're going to fall on your face!"
There are times I'm just too sore to pull something off but I always try. There are obviously things I can't do yet because I've really only been practicing for two months. But I tell myself no one would guess I'm such a noob if they see me pull off an arm balance! If I don't do something on the first try, I go home and try it on my own and get it the second time.
Last night in the Level 2 (most difficult) Flow class we did twisting arm balances and the teacher said "Ooo, beautiful." I was focused on a speck of dust on the floor but she had to be directing it to me, right? Only one other person in the room was even trying, the rest of the suckers were in child's pose or shaking their heads at the idea of what the teacher was proposing we do.
It looked something like this, I can't find the exact pose but it was similar except one leg was bent:
I'm sure it wasn't perfect but the few seconds I was suspended over the floor felt like an eternity.
So the point of my story is that yes, I am awesome. I feel that in a year or so I could be the Michael Phelps of yoga. He's just freakishly made for swimming--his body is naturally designed to kick ass.
I see the other students struggle physically next to me, trying to lose weight and gain flexibility so they can move from the easy classes to the more challenging. But my struggle is no less difficult. It's a mental struggle to overcome my self-absorbed "look at me" complex. I think It's just as hard. The fact that I'm writing this shows that I want you readers to see how cool I am. Ugh.
