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I started practicing yoga in June 2015. At first, it was just a couple days a week, practicing because I wanted/needed a way to calm my mind after my husband’s cardiac arrests and during his recovery.
What I learned initially was surprising. My balance was tenuous, at best—my flexibility was pathetic—and my strength (particularly upper body) was unremarkable. But trying to stand on one foot kept my mind focused on just that one task. And the community of other people practicing was comforting and warmly friendly. So I continued...
Within a year I was practicing several times a week; in 2018, I began to practice daily. Hot Yoga on Davidson (North Carolina)...the Harris YMCA in South Park, Charlotte...The Center Yoga Studio in Harrisonburg (Virginia)...Quiet Mind Studio in Wellfleet (Massachusetts)...and One Love Yoga in Kent (Ohio). My physical improvements were slow but steady.
I carried on.
The pandemic changed my in-studio practices to online (YouTube)_ yoga. Yoga with Adrienne...Sarah Beth Yoga...Cat Meffen Yoga. Squeezing out a small space in my living room for brief practices kept me going. However, they lacked the completeness of a full yoga practice, and I soon ran through most of the yoga practices offered on YouTube.
Now I have discovered something that was available to me all along—but missed. Throughout the pandemic, One Love Yoga in Kent has held in-studio practices (very limited numbers of practitioners in the studio) and simultaneous on-line Zoom practices.
Although I had avoided Zoom practices until this fall, I have found these One Love Yoga practices to be fantastic. Yes...pre-recorded online practices (like Yoga with Adrienne) can help to hold things together, but live practices—with people in the studio and Zooming in—are perfect. There is an awareness of what others are doing during the practice that keeps each session “real” and in touch with particular needs. There are yoga practices for all levels and abilities. And I now do not have to drive to and from my house to Kent while also keeping COVID safe.
Over these past six years, I have grown to love practicing yoga. Everything I hoped to achieve is working—a calmer mind, better balance, increased strength, more flexibility—and I am confident that I will be able to practice yoga for the rest of my life.
Here is a link to One Love Yoga. Give it a try!
