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Winning
Yoga
The secret to success is showing up.
I spent
a recent Friday night alone: alone in a
roomful of people, inhaling, exhaling and
sweating my way through an arduous two-hour
yoga class at a Clifton studio, It’s
Yoga. After class, I merrily and exhaustedly
tucked a new book and carry-out dinner under
my umbrella and strolled my Zen, yogafied
self toward my car, my apartment and my
cozy bed.
It
was a remarkable thing, really, that I had
emerged from a Friday evening yoga class
at all and that I was happy: happy in the
moment, happy to be alone, happy to be in
Cincinnati. That’s when I knew I had
won yoga.
Last
summer, when I was introduced to the concept,
my idea of winning yoga was slightly different.
I had attended another class, and as we
rolled up our mats, I overheard one woman
telling Joe, our instructor, she was competing
with herself and others in the group and
she knew shouldn’t be—that this
was not a contest. Joe agreed then added,
joking, "But you did come in second
place." We all laughed. And I walked
home feeling even better. I felt more than
Zen. I felt certain that if she had come
in second, then I must have come in first!
But
now, at this time of year when New Year’s
resolutions become more like guidelines
than strict rules, right before they become
stupid ideas to begin with, I like to reflect
on how I actually won yoga.
It
was when I finally learned that, as Woody
Allen says, "80 percent of success
is showing up."
It
is remarkable what you can accomplish when
you shift your focus from the big win, the
end goal, those 10 extra pounds or the six-pack
abs to the small but Herculean task of just
showing up, one day at a time. I learned
the hard way. Five years ago I was remarkably
unhealthy, 30 pounds heavier and miserable.
I learned one tiny little sobering step
at a time that if you make good choices
for your body and your spirit each and every
day, then suddenly, miraculously, you awake
one fine morning or one rainy night and
notice you have changed. Maybe your body
has become stronger. Maybe your heart has
become lighter. Maybe you are doing things
you used to only imagine: like taking a
yoga class on a Friday night or going home
alone with a good book and actually enjoying
it.
I
am daily inspired by my own clients, women
and men who continue to show up, week after
week and begin to transform: clients like
Myra, who started coming a year ago, overweight
and inactive. She keeps showing up and she
keeps feeling better. Because she feels
better (and keeps showing up) she looks
better too.
So
as the yoga people say, "Namaste."
Or as the Nike people say, "Just do
it." Whatever you do, keep showing
up.
stacy sims
When
she’s not taking yoga, Stacy teaches
Pilates. Her Friday evening class was taught
by visiting yogi Vicki Sorenson.
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