After a few days of beating myself up for having a misstep (or two, or three, or, dare I say, four..) during the first week of the nutrition program, I decided I needed to really relax and reflect and try and quiet my chiding mind. So I decided to take a yoga class at the gym I belong to on Sunday.
To be honest, I always kind of scoff at yoga. I like the idea of stretching and being more flexible, but I never really considered it a legitimate form of exercise. Plus, the idea of shutting my mind off, while enticing at a glance, seems impossible. The very few times I've had a professional massage, I spent 40 minutes just trying to relax my brain, and the last 20 minutes beating myself up for wasting the massage! Am I too hard on myself? Well, maybe...
So I put my notions about yoga aside and rolled my purple mat out alongside men and women of all shapes, sizes, and skill level. And you know what? It was, of course, just what the doctor ordered. Though I never did quite fully still my mind, I did find a bit of peace within myself. Just slowing down and taking the time to collect myself, trying my damnedest to leave negativity at the gate and just appreciate the steps I have taken, and the little progress I have made, it granted me a sense of accomplishment I so desperately needed. Someone very smart (Elaine) once told me, "Even if you take two steps forward and one step back, you're still making progress."
And let me just publicly redact my statement about yoga and it's legitimacy as a form of exercise. Holy cow, my legs were shaking for two hours afterwards!
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