Practicing yoga bettered my health and spirit

I started yoga at the same time I became a vegetarian, at 16.

I wanted to become more active because I never was a particularly athletic kid. I was amazed and fascinated looking at many Instagram accounts like @kinoyoga, and @patrickbeach doing amazing movements with their bodies which seemed clearly impossible and incredible.

I didn’t go to classes, mostly because I had major anxiety about learning in a room of adults who knew what they were doing, and I didn’t have money either. Instead, I looked up videos on Youtube trying to find the perfect beginner sessions and I came across the 30 Day Yoga Challenge with Erin Motz. Each video was less than 20 minutes, and detailed in explanation of each pose and how it was supposed to feel.

I didn’t use a mat at first because I wanted to be certain I was actually interested in yoga itself. I barely survived the first day. I sweated up a storm, breathing was lots of mental work, and “downdogs” are hell especially when you have no upper body strength and little flexibility anywhere.

Yet I soon became addicted to pushing through challenging poses and discovering how it made me feel amazing and incredibly sore.

After I finished the challenge, I felt I needed to practice everyday so I got myself a mat and continued to practice. I started picking up longer vinyasa videos, and worked hard. I could not stop practicing inversions and balances because never in my life I thought I’d be capable of this.

After every yoga session, I’d spend another hour just practicing balancing in headstand or crow while failing miserably and not giving up on my handstands.

With all of this going on everyday, I became more determined in school and with my health. I started running, which was always a nightmare, and started doing workouts before my yoga session. My entire family was surprised I was working incredibly hard with yoga.

You don’t realize how much strength you have until you lose it all. I did yoga almost nonstop for two years and then coming into college, I was lost. Though my health was amazing, stress ultimately took over and I basically caved in. I stopped eating healthy, even as a vegan, and I stopped practicing yoga.

After spending time away from yoga, I thought I could return easily – but physically couldn’t. It was incredibly hard to get back into the flow of things especially because I had lost lots of strength and gave up much quicker on it.

After returning home from school, with more time to relax and think, I’ve learned to understand yoga isn’t just about cool poses. It’s about having the discipline to connect with yourself. You learn your true strengths pushing through things you’d think were unimaginable.

Though I’m regaining much strength again, I’m not as flexible or fit as I was in the past. Just because I’m bigger doesn’t mean I can’t call myself a yogi. I understand it’s a tough thing to practice everyday especially during busy moments in your life but once you experience the true greatness of yoga, you’ll understand your true potential.