Chapter Eight: Yogic Expansion

I've been doing yoga for about two years now. I originally begun yoga for two reasons: One, as an athlete, I was willing to do anything and everything to better myself, and the growing statistics suggested yoga was a way to help strengthen my body. Two, dealing with anxiety for a number of years, I was up for trying a new way to de-stress and cleanse my body of negativity and tension. So here I am, two years later, finally falling in love with yoga, simple yoga. I'm not a high-level athlete anymore, and I've given up searching on that "one-quick fix" that will fix everything in my life (all along, I was hoping yoga would solve all my problems instantly). I've come to love yoga for exactly what it is: a way to naturally move my body, to feel strength internally and externally, and for bringing peace of mind and clarity to my heart and soul. I used to push my body physically, now I've learned to be gentle, and to go easy when I feel pain. I have found compassion for myself that I never realized I had. I have seen my body twist itself into positions that I could not do when I was a size smaller, and therefore gained a love for my body exactly the way it is.
Yoga is tough, and it has challenged me in ways that even my Division One level athletics could not challenge me. Because it challenges me mentally as well as physically. Yoga has taught me that my mind affects my body, and vice versa. Currently I have been doing yoga two to three times a week, sometimes more. I feel the way about yoga and meditation as I do about the Baha'i Faith: I love it, and I cannot get enough of it. And I want it to consume my life, for the rest of my life.