Experiment is Over

Last January I stopped going to yoga. It wasn't intentional but I started watching Mia on my day's off and that is when I would go to yoga. I tried to keep up at home but that wasn't the same. I was pretty active all summer taking lots of walks and going on hikes and I thought this would be a good alternative. It was good but it was still not yoga. I had plans to go back in the fall but I find that when I have stopped doing something it is hard to get the motivation back to start again. I knew how much I loved going to yoga, I knew the benefits of going to yoga, I just couldn't make myself go. Finally around Thanksgiving I felt I needed to get back, especially after I saw a picture of myself. Then I got sick, and I just never got over the cold, when I did I would have a good week and then I got another one. This continued...it is still with me.
I had my kids get me a yoga gift certificate for Christmas, I was one step closer to coming back. I knew that there was going to be a price to pay, I can't just sit around not exercising and waltz back into yoga without feeling a little pain. That kept me away for a couple more weeks. Finally, I bit the bullet and I went to yoga, I jumped right in going to my normal hard class. I made it through the class and then spent the next two days trying to move all the sore muscles from head to toe. After that I knew that I needed to continue to go, the next class was painful I could hardly move my arms because they were still so sore. I had to move a little slower and even take time to rest. Then I went again, the third time was a little better I was still feeling the effects of sore arms, but things started clicking, my body knew what to do and as long as I kept my mind focused I felt good, I was back. Today at my 4th class back I instinctively did things I haven't done in over a year. I still have a ways to go but I know that I need to do yoga, it is great for my mind and my body.
This story can translate to a lot of other things in our lives that we know we need to be doing. Maybe we were doing them for so long that we forgot or took for granted the benefits. We get comfortable and complaisant. I was feeling great, I was looking great. Even after I stopped going to yoga I still felt great and looked great, but then slowly the changes started coming. The changes weren't overnight it was so slow I hardly noticed, but  soon the same things started happening to my body that made me want to start yoga in the first place.  My mind was also convinced that I didn't need yoga, I was just fine without it. I didn't need to go to a yoga studio to find a place to meditate, to concentrate my efforts to hold a pose. My mind could do that at home, or while I was out walking etc. and it did. I was able to mediate at home and while out on my walks or driving, but it wasn't the same, and slowly that changed too.
That can also be said for backsliding, it was so much easier for me to make up excuses, to not go today because... maybe I didn't feel comfortable in yoga, I am shy and kind of kept to myself and don't have a group of friends that encourage me to go.  Would anyone even notice that I was gone, or care? I was much better off staying at home, some of the things that people say in yoga are so off the wall, sometimes they have said something that is offensive to me. I don't really fit in with the "yoga" crowd, and it is expensive I really can't afford that right now.
But I had to make the commitment to go back, as soon as I walked back in, I knew that I needed yoga. I don't go to yoga for the friends, the pat on the back, the joy of being in a room full of sweaty people that I hardly know. I go because I know the benefits far out way the excuses for me not to go. It is going to take some work to get back to where I was but I know that when I was doing yoga I felt great inside and out. Life is hard, but life is also simple. Get on the path and never, ever give up. You just keep on going. You don't quit, and you will make it. That is true for yoga, and a whole lot of other things that are important in our lives. (A pat on the back once in a while is nice too)

Jayden

Jayden has been living in Utah with my sister, she is a saint! Jayden choose to live in Utah after spending the summer with Katie and Jeremy. His friend situation here was not great and I think we all needed a change. Jayden has been doing pretty good in Utah. He has been more active, being drug out of the house by Katie and Jeremy to go on hikes and to the lake. Jayden has even taken up snowboarding and has gone several times with a friend and with family. He lives 10 minutes away form 3 different ski resorts so I am glad that happened. Jayden is doing better in school and is being helpful around the house, according to my sister. Jayden even had a part-tie job over the Christmas break. He has several cousins to hang out with and Katie and Jeremy come down every few weeks and get him to spend the weekend with them. We Skype and text with Jayden and we are glad he is doing good. Keep up the great work Jayden!
I don't think he was real happy about snowshoeing his way up the mountain before being able to snowboard down, but he was a good sport.