After chanting final oms
during a yoga class last week, sun glowing through shimmering orange curtains,
walls dancing vibrant sunset hues, I thought about how many times I’d be there.
Not exactly there as in color, time and space, but how many times I’d been
sitting up from final rest, stretching my arms over my head, breathing easier
than I had been an hour or so before.
The numbers started coming
together in my head.
I’ve been practicing at
Laughing Lotus for seven and a half years. That in it self made me stop and
ponder for a moment. Back then I’d been taking classes at my gym but knew it
was time to take the next step. Or, as it felt to me at the time, jump off the
yoga cliff. I’d decided to try all the studios in my neighborhood—there are
many—and started at Laughing Lotus.
I never went anywhere
else.
I’d found my home.
My first class had been in
that same studio. Gods and goddesses radiating from murals on brightly painted
walls. Sunlight streaming through enormous windows. Soundtracks that inspired
and made me laugh. The thing, one thing, about Laughing Lotus is that I laugh.
Often. Not something I thought came with a yoga practice but to me flowing and
laughing go together.
They get it.
Anyway, back to numbers. I
practice a minimum of twice a week. Which is 100 classes or so a year. Of
course there are vacations, and injuries (shoulder, wrist), a surgery, sick
kids. But, I generally practice more. 3 or 4 classes a week much if not most of the time.
Which, at the very
minimum, brings me to over 1000 classes.
One. Thousand. Classes.
That’s a lot of yoga.
That’s a lot of chanting,
breathing, moving, stretching, learning, growing, flowing.
I thought about how much
more comfortable I am in my skin. About how I now move with grace in my
practice when I used to be self conscious and stuck. About how easily I can do
a headstand in the middle of the room when that wasn’t even a remote possibility
when I started.
About how I sing loud and
true instead of feeling uncomfortable and unsure.
About how much this
practice has saved me when I didn’t even realize it.
About where I’d be if I
didn’t take care of myself this way.
About how yoga is more
than time on the mat.
About how far I’ve come.
About how far I still have
to go.
About how grateful I am
for the here and now.
Namaste to all my
teachers—every class has been a blessing.
