The power of yoga is that all you need is you
I have tried almost every kind of physical activity class that exists. I love climbing, both outside and in the gym. I love to lift weights. I spent many years swimming almost daily. I’ve done dozens of different kinds of aerobics classes. I absolutely adore the Pilates reformer. For a few months, I went to a boxing gym regularly. I’m a very physical person, and I love to try new things, so every time I hear about a new kind of movement, I want to give it a try.
But through all of those different styles and activities, one thing has never wavered: my commitment to yoga.
There are many reasons for that. To start with, it goes far, far beyond physical activity. Yoga has helped me through grief and loss, divorce, major life changes, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. It’s given me peace of mind and helped me find calm in the many storms of life. And even on the physical side, yoga combines strength, flexibility, and body awareness in ways I have not found anywhere else.
The other reason that yoga has stuck with me, though, is purely practical: yoga can be done anywhere, with no equipment. All I need are my own body and mind, and (for better or worse!), those are always with me.
I have done yoga in the backcountry and on the tops of mountains. When I traveled doing community outreach for a nonprofit, I did yoga in many hotel rooms, sometimes creating just enough space between the bed and the radiator to move through my sequences. I’ve sat in my meditation practice in train stations and airports. I have used yogic breathing in hospital rooms, both for myself and for others.
I can access my practice standing in line, sitting in traffic, in other cities around the world, in the park, on my living room floor, and even, when my depression has been bad, in bed.
We cannot always decide where and when we will need our practice. The great power of yoga, and one of the reasons it has remained so relevant for so many centuries and across so many cultures, is that it is based on fundamental truths about the human experience. Nothing in our lives is permanent. Difficulties, struggles, and suffering can happen to anyone at any time. Our bodies and minds react to the world based on what is happening around us—and on our past experiences and our interpretations. Yoga is a practice of self-awareness first and foremost, helping us recognize when and how we tend to react, and giving us tools to change those reactions and reduce our own suffering, whenever and wherever we happen to be.
Self-awareness leading to the ability to self-heal, to change our reactions to the world and find less stress and pain and more joy: that’s powerful stuff. And it’s why, no matter how much I love a good climbing session, yoga will always be at the center of my own personal practice.
If you think that a personal practice might serve you, too, please reach out.
