Yoga and Life (Same Thing, Really) 🧘‍♀️

Yoga and I have had this on-again, off-again thing for the last 30 years. We break up, I forget about it, then one day I walk back into class and wonder why I don't do this every single day of my life.

Some of my friends roll their eyes. They'll never do yoga because it's "not enough of a workout." These are the same friends sweating through bootcamps, walking endlessly, desperately trying to lose belly fat, tone their arms, or hit a cardio high. And sure, all that has its place.

But here's the thing they're missing: yoga isn't just exercise. What happens on that mat, the four corners of it, is life in miniature.

If you've got the right instructor — mine is Jenny at Yoga View in Wilmette, basically a philosopher who wears leggings — you learn quickly that yoga is about being kind to yourself. It's about knowing that whatever you try is practice, not perfection. It's about focus, because if you're in downward dog thinking about what you'll order at Starbucks, you're not really doing yoga.

Jenny reminds us constantly: if you wobble, if you lose your balance, if your pose looks nothing like the Instagram yogis, who cares? No one's watching. No one's judging. We think people are analyzing our every move when the truth is everyone's just worried about themselves.

The part that really gets me every time is at the end of class. Lying there in savasana, I feel this uncontrollable rush of gratitude. Gratitude that my body let me stretch a little further, that my mind got quiet for a few minutes, that I gave myself permission to just be. Sometimes a tear or two rolls down my cheek.

That feeling is why I always come back. When you learn to carry the wobbling, the kindness, the stretch, and the focus off the mat and into your life — that's when yoga really works.