#yogibe

[dcipherliife]

[yoginikyler]

My soulmate

I have genuinely missed writing, but school and work keeps me so busy that I feel like I hardly have any time to write about my thoughts and my life lately. Work consists of constant exercise and teaching others how to live a healthy life. Recently (if you haven't noticed) I have found my soulmate. I'll explain what I mean by this in a second. When I began working in fitness, I loved it all. I began with Zumba, then moved to almost everything: cycling, bootcamp, core classes. Everyone I work with is impressed because they think I am so versatile. Yeah, I love teaching every format of classes, but I was struggling with finding something I wanted to do myself. While teaching others what to do in each class is fun, it's like I almost lost what I enjoyed doing myself. Of course, one of those things that I enjoy myself is teaching, but what I really needed was to find something I find best for my own lifestyle, for me, and for no one else. My boss has always told me that she truly believes everyone has a fitness soulmate. Once they find it, they will stick to it and enjoy it. Many people tell me they don't like to exercise, but I tell them they simply have to find what they like to do. Exercise does not necessarily have to be in a gym on en elliptical or lifting heavy weights. It can be whatever you want it to be. Some have found that Zumba is their soulmate. They find that they can enjoy it without even feeling like they are "exercising." Some love to run. Some love to cycle. But what have I found that has not only transformed my body, but my life? My soulmate is Yoga. After teaching all formats besides yoga, I knew yoga would never be my fit. Oh how I was wrong, and it is so interesting to find myself now leaning to yoga more than any other format of fitness. I began going to yoga a little bit just because I felt like it was refreshing. I've heard that if you are a cycler, yoga is a good thing to do because cyclers are so tight especially in their hamstrings. So I picked up yoga maybe once every two weeks. Not too much. I then was offered a free Yogafit level 1 training by my gym. I was not interested until my boss called me to tell me if I didn't use this free training, it would go to waste because no one else wants it. So I agreed. It was a whole weekend and felt very long. I was not too ecstatic about it in the beginning, but at the end, I felt so transformed. I always knew that yoga was a mind/body practice, but I did not realize just how connected the body is with the mind until I began practicing yoga. After this training, I am now capable of teaching yoga classes. I've taught very few classes, but it has been such a good experience to teach, but most importantly, it has been a great experience for myself. I see myself improving everyday by practicing further. Daily improvement is so rewarding to me. In a class that I taught the other day, I was talking to the class when we were in our final relaxation. I was trying to teach them to relax not only their bodies, but also their minds. Having no clue where this came from, I said this: "Practicing yoga is practicing with the mind and the body. In yoga, the mind cannot work well without the body, and the body cannot work well without the mind. As we are lying here trying to let the tension of our muscles role out of the body, allow the mind to do the same. Yoga is not something one can come to, to simply escape their lives, but it's to overcome what we have to do in life. Allow the mind to relax and allow the tension to come out of the mind." Someone came to me after the class telling me what I said was quite profound. I did not think too much about it until after the class. This is when I realized that yoga was truly for me. It helps me in my daily life to not escape hardships or duties in life, but to handle them in the right manner. This is simply the start of a new journey and I can't wait to practice yoga for many years to come. I look forward to new opportunities for growth with the mind and the body. Yoga is my fitness soulmate. If you haven't found yours. Keep searching. You will find it.