Yoga is for Girls

From Warrior 2, helicopter your arms to Chataranga. Inhale into Upward Dog. Now a strong exhale through to Downward Dog.

If you have ever taken a yoga class you may have (more than likely) completed a sequence very similar to this. Yoga is a true obsession of mine. Originally it was just an hour dedicated to stretching out my sore muscles and joints. That’s it. It still has an incredible ability to keep me stretched out and thus keeps me from getting injured with all of the other taxing activities I do to my body, such as: playing racquetball, competing in triathlons, half marathons, strength training, etc. I hate stretching and hardly ever do it. Ever. Yoga does stretch your body out. Let’s be clear about that. The true rewards of consistently doing yoga are much deeper though. They are mental and spiritual. When I first started doing yoga I hated the breathing exercises and all the (weird) other stuff associate with yogi’s (people who do yoga). My practice has begun to expand into a whole different realm. I want everyone to experience this.

The entire purpose of yoga is to focus on your breath and loosen your body up for the grand finale of most yoga classes – the final Shavasana (I have no idea how to spell anything related to yoga). By focusing on your breath you are letting go of the things that are stressing you out. It is an extremely challenging thing to do for 60 minutes and I can honestly say that I have never successfully made it through a yoga class without my mind wandering. It happens. It’s going to continue to happen. Probably forever. The reason yoga is called a “practice” is because it is constantly evolving. Your body is a dynamic system that never feels exactly the same for 2 consecutive days. Same with your life. Some days you are really relaxed and other days you are totally uptight. Sometimes you are thinking about a promotion or a new job and others you are just stressed out about your financial situation. Some days your body feels great. Other times it feels awful. The practice of yoga is in accepting these challenges when you show up on your mat. Yoga teaches you to accept things that you cannot control and still keep moving forward. The word “practice” implies forward motion. You don’t “practice” something that you do not intend to get better at. Otherwise you just wouldn’t practice. Sometimes, for people like me, the challenge of yoga is to not to push myself to the absolute limits, physically. I have no trouble doing that outside of yoga. It’s definitely ok and encouraged to use yoga as a tool to balance yourself out. Certain people need certain things from yoga. Yoga helps me relax my body and my mind and truly creates a lot of clarity in my mind. It really allows me to forget the things that aren’t that important in my life. It helps me focus on being productive outside of the yoga room – not just busy. That is a big challenge for a lot of people. People think that if they aren’t insanely busy, they aren’t being productive. I think it’s quite the opposite. If you are thinking clearly you realize what the absolute most important 1 or 2 things that you need to be doing that day are. You learn to let go of things that are causing stress and not adding value to your life.

Yoga leaves you with a deep connection to who you are. It helps you reconnect with your ultimate purpose in life. And no, it’s not that really “important” email that has to go out by 4pm today. It’s easy for us to get lost in a sea of email, Facebook and other unimportant activities. Yoga is an investment of your time. Everyone has the capability to be phenomenal at something. Imagine spending 1 hour of everyday connecting yourself with that purpose. Figuring out one thing you can do each day that will help you take a step in the direction of that dream. Whatever it may be. For me, it’s owning several low-maintenance, high-value businesses and having the free-time to travel and write a New York Times bestselling book about my experiences. Yoga is the number one reason I have begun writing. It has led me to the realization that it is something I have to be doing and it is something I absolutely love. It really helps me ignore things that distract me from doing it too. That is a really important skill to develop. I think of it as intelligent ignorance. It is really challenging to think like a minimalist in a world that is so busy. Busy and productive are not synonyms. Busy and happy are also, not synonyms. Less is more my friends. Use yoga to clarify all the complexity in the world and reconnect with who you are. I know I do. It’s the best stress-relief I know.

To your success – Namaste!