In my younger days, if you asked me about yoga, I probably would have responded, “Well, he’s smarter than the average bear and loves picnic baskets, but why he wore a hat and tie but no pants I’ll never understand.”
As I got a little older, a little wiser and, let’s be honest, a little stiffer (hah…stiffer), yoga became something a little more up my alley. At its core, yoga is a series of physical postures designed to strengthen the body, improve flexibility and help quiet the mind.
I’ve tried gym memberships, workout videos, CrossFit…hell, I even tried following along with Olivia Newton-John in her “Physical” video, and all I ended up with was a newfound appreciation for the ’80s.
Now that I’m approaching age 29…for about the nineteenth time…I’ve found yoga gives me the biggest bang for my buck.
If you do a quick Google search for the health benefits of yoga, you’ll get about 53,200,000 results like I did. Let me save you some time and give you the top five benefits I’ve noticed, and I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks.
1. Flexibility
Let’s just say I’ve never been accused of being overly flexible. If I dropped something on the floor, I’d spend a good thirty seconds deciding whether I really needed it before bending over to pick it up.
After only a few weeks of yoga, I’m already noticing a difference. I’m moving easier, stretching farther and making fewer weird noises every time I stand up. My body still reminds me I’m not twenty anymore, but at least now it’s complaining a little less.
2. Weight Loss and Body Toning
I like yoga because it feels like the lazy person’s workout.
I go at my own pace. I’m still a beginner. I don’t leave class feeling like I fell down a flight of stairs, but I can absolutely tell my body has been working. My muscles shake, I break a sweat, and my clothes are starting to fit a little better.
So it’s either working…
…or I’m slowly evolving into a vibrator.
Either way, progress.
3. Patience
I’m a busy mom with two kids, two dogs and a hubby who somehow magically appears behind me every time I drop something.
I’d like to think I’m a patient person, but even I lose my shit once in a while. One minute everything’s fine, then the kids start bickering and suddenly I’m Mel Gibson at a traffic stop.
My girls know exactly where my fuse is, and one day I actually caught my youngest rolling her eyes while I was in the middle of a lecture.
Since starting yoga, I’ve noticed I stop more often before reacting. I take a few deep breaths, lower my voice and somehow manage to sound like one of those calm people who always seem to have life figured out.
At least for now…it’s working.
4. Helping with Other Aches and Pains
For years I’ve woken up playing my favorite morning game show:
“What Hurts Today?”
Neck has always been a strong contestant.
Right Shoulder likes making guest appearances.
But the undisputed champion has always been Lower Back.
One doctor told me it was from carrying my kids. Unfortunately they hadn’t figured out how to fly yet, and I didn’t have a wife, so I was fresh out of options.
Once they were old enough to walk, I stopped carrying them around, so that theory went out the window.
Doctor number two blamed my purse.
I explained that I carried a cell phone, a lip gloss and maybe a receipt from Target. Unless lip gloss suddenly weighed forty pounds, I wasn’t buying that one either.
Doctor number three blamed my tilted pelvis.
I told him it had always been tilted, it sounded like the name of a neighborhood bar, and now I wanted a drink.
I’m not claiming yoga has magically cured my back pain.
But…
Since I started practicing, my back hasn’t bothered me.
The weird popping thing my hip used to do is gone too.
Coincidence?
Maybe.
But I’m going to keep stretching and see where this ride takes me.
5. Mindfulness
If you’ve been reading Living Clean and Dirty for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me say, “Live in the moment.”
I used to lump that saying in with every other bumper sticker cliché.
“Live, Laugh, Love.”
“My Other Ride Is Your Mom.”
“Condoms Prevent Minivans.”
Cute sayings that make you smile for three seconds before you forget them.
But the older I get, the more I think there might actually be something to it.
We’re so busy trying to get to the next thing that we barely notice the thing we’re doing right now.
I catch myself all the time playing with my kids while thinking about dinner. Watching TV while making tomorrow’s to-do list. Folding laundry while mentally writing grocery lists.
Yoga doesn’t really let me do that.
I’m too busy trying to breathe correctly, balance on one foot and remember which direction my hips are supposed to be pointing. For one hour, my brain finally gives itself permission to stop racing.
It usually takes me ten minutes to get there, but I get there.
And honestly, that’s become one of my favorite parts.
I’ll leave you with the saying, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
A great mentality for yoga.
A terrible bumper sticker on the car in front of you.
Unless you’re a turtle getting laid. Then all bets are off.
