Losing weight is a relatively easy concept; eat less and move more. Yet, weight loss is a $60 billion dollar industry. For being an easy concept, I like many, struggle with getting rid of excess pounds. Recently, I was watching a talk show where a woman lost 65 pounds because she started Zumba. She claimed that she never liked working-out but fell in love with Zumba and the weight just fell off.
This pattern of thought intrigued me. I have been active most of my life, but things shifted when I had children, and my focus was fully on them and not myself. Therefore, I haven’t got around to losing my baby weight (it’s been six years). This is further complicated because I have developed some bad habits like eating off my children’s plates, sitting on a bench to watch them while they play at the park and spending too much time in front of my computer.
I enjoy having curves, but it is getting a little ridiculous. I decided to get out of the house and start going to the gym again, because I had been trying to do it all by myself at home with little progress. I signed up for a gym near my house that offers many different classes like Zumba, Boot Camp, Spin and Yoga.
After trying out the classes, I found that I have fallen in love with Yoga. I have several Yoga videos and have enjoyed following along at home, but going to the class was different.
The class at my gym is offered at night and the Yogini (female instructor) turned off the lights. The studio borders an empty parking lot with a rock berm on the side still covered with snow. There are no distractions, and it feels private and peaceful. With the small amount of light that trickled into the windows from the parking lot lights, I could practically envision the Snow Monkeys in the Himalayas just outside. This was accompanied by meditative Yoga music playing and we hadn’t even started class yet.
It didn’t occur to me that having lights off would allow me to participate uninhibited and really push myself deeper into the poses. I realized that this was what my body needed-movement. It was as relaxing as a spa day with the fulfillment of working-out. This class was the perfect healing time, that as a busy mom, I really needed.
As I have found the “thing” I enjoy doing the motivation has come with little effort. This is a far cry from the mornings, I use to get up and go for a jog. Unfortunately, the snooze button and the warmth of the covers had a strong pull on me. This battle of trying to be consistent tugged at me and I would feel guilty about not following through and it would lead to feeling burdened and that would lead to less follow through and on it would go until I stopped all together. And that made me feel even worse.
The natural endorphins, self-esteem and desire to do something healthy for myself were inside me all along. I forgave myself for taking so long to get moving again and I filtered my thoughts to focus on encouraging myself. Feeling better about me has spilled over into all other parts of my life. My life is not perfect, just a little more balanced. And although nothing I have said here is necessarily new, Yoga helped bring out the missing piece that focuses on me without sacrificing any care for my family or those around me. The weight loss may have started out as my goal, but fixating my expectations on that has diminished because I feel better in my own skin already.
So be encouraged that you can fall in love with exactly the right thing to get you moving. Add in smarter nutrition and you too will be on your way to the ideal YOU!
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.”
Namaste (The light in me sees the light in you).
