Whole body Yoga Virginia

I rode the diet and exercise roller coaster most of my life. I envied people who were fit and beautiful. I even got there a couple of times… and over the years I tried it ALL… crazy diets and fasting, major dietary changes, classes at the health club, running, weightlifting, swimming, walking, biking, tennis… you name it. And sooner or later, I always quit. My reward for quitting? It took me a while to acknowledge it, but I got to tell myself all sorts of negative things and beat myself up, and hide from the possibilities of my life. I eventually found myself 50 pounds overweight, extremely depressed and miserable.

Even with all of my knowledge about health… I’d studied holistic health for almost 20 years… all SORTS of health-related info… and was a walking reference book… one day I realized that I was heading down a road that would prevent me from engaging in the wonders of life as I aged. I hated what I saw when I looked in the mirror. I wanted to LIVE before I died.

So I DECIDED. I decided to find the thing that would be the key to being healthy for my life. Something that would support me and help my body be its best for my whole life.

First and foremost, I understood that we walk around in an amazing healing machine. Our bodies are designed to heal themselves IF we put the correct DEMANDS on them and support them with proper nutrition and sleep and hydration.

I looked around at all that was out there… I wanted something I could do for the rest of my life… something that would help me be truly well…. Something I could maintain. Something that would SUPPORT anything else I wanted to do… keep my body healthy and strong so I could travel to Hawaii or Nepal or Thailand and go hiking or ride elephants… so I could learn to Kiteboard (a dream/fantasy for 14 years…)

With my background of engineering and massage therapy (and understanding of biomechanics) and knowledge of holistic healing, I walked into Bikram yoga and decided to give it a try. Oh my gosh… I HATED my first class… These people are NUTS!… But when I walked out of the room that first day, I realized I felt great. And I decided to sign up for the one-month intro special and give it a shot. I quickly recognized the absolute brilliance of the Bikram sequence… it works every muscle, every joint, every tendon, ligament, organ, gland, body system. A TOTAL body workout in 90 minutes… The CORRECT DEMANDS for the body!

That was all it took. At the end of the first month, I DECIDED to make the next decision in one year. I already felt more energetic than I had since I was a teenager. I would give myself to this practice for one full year and then reassess. (And no, there was no contract to sign, except with my soul.) I mean truthfully… HOW MANY YEARS had it taken me to get myself into the condition I was in??? Deep down, I knew it would be dishonest to expect myself to look like Cindy Crawford in a week…

Even now, it surprises a lot of people that I don’t come to Bikram because I love the class itself, and sometimes I don’t even like it… BUT I ALWAYS feel a sense of accomplishment with EACH and EVERY posture I attempt and over time I’ve grown to love the puzzle my body is and how the practice changes as I transform. It’s amazing to me that even if I don’t always like class, I like MYSELF more than I ever have… and it’s BECAUSE I come to class. I’ve never felt better in my whole life and this is the best addiction I’ve ever had. If I miss more than a few days, I can really feel the absence of balance creeping in… I’ve lost over 45 pounds. It didn’t happen overnight. I’m truly healthy for the first time in my life and I can honestly say that I deserve it. This yoga has changed my posture, is reshaping my body, allowing me to do the things I’ve been dreaming of… I learned to kiteboard last summer! Over 50 and learning to kiteboard! Bikram Yoga is a miracle in my life.