the healing effects of yoga for the every day working woman
During the 1970s when I was a young girl, I remember my mother sitting in front of the television perfecting her yoga techniques with PBS yoga guru, Lilias. Lilias, with her breathy voice and long hair, would contort her body into painful-looking yoga positions.
After watching Lilias, I equated yoga with pain. That was my first experience with yoga. My next experience occurred 25 years later. My collegiate athlete sister took yoga and she recommended that I might enjoy taking a yoga class. What did I have to lose? I danced ballet when I was a girl, and had taken jazz and ballet classes during college so I had the flexibility for yoga. I was looking for a new form of exercise, but little did I know that the psychological benefits would far outweigh the physical benefits.
I signed up for a beginning yoga class through my local recreation district. I didn't know what to expect when I walked into class. I did notice that I was one of the youngest people in the class. I met a woman named Hilda who was in her early 70s and had been taking yoga for over 25 years. She looked fantastic. I talked to other people in the class (mostly seniors and husband/wife teams) and they took yoga for various health reasons ranging from physical therapy to relieving arthritis pain.
When our "yogi" walked into class, I was stunned. A short, Indian man who looked about 70 years old greeted me (I learned later that he was in his mid 80s). I was in awe of him and his yoga "schtick" he would perform each week became my mantra: "Clear all extraneous thoughts from your head. Think good, clear thoughts. Focus!" he would belt out in his thick accent. After my first class, I fell instantly in love with yoga. When I danced ballet and jazz, I always loved the stretching routines and yoga proved to be even better than dance stretches.
Yoga not only challenges me physically, but it brings about a psychological consciousness inside me that I don't receive from other forms of exercise. I take classes every week and I'm addicted. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings I escape my hectic work world and stretch my body and mind and relieve it from the day's aches and stressors. Most important, I meditate and finally relax after my long and busy day.
Yoga fits me. It fits my short, athletic, Mary Lou Retton-esque body shape and it fits my mile-a-minute mind. Not only do I enjoy the physical benefits from yoga, but yoga has become a healing elixir for my mind and spirit. I feel strong and powerful and I know what abdominal muscles look like now. Hopefully, I'll be in contention with Hilda and still be contorting my body when I'm in my 70s.
About the Author
Therese Pope is a non-profiteer fundraiser by day and a freelance writer and poet by night. Her works have been published in various e-zines and literary anthologies. She is a yoga fiend with a penchant for writing with latte in hand. She resides in Sacramento, Calif.