Do Something: Day 5

4:30am.  The phone buzzes.  Yoga time!  Text sent to friend, who was brave and decided to go to early morning yoga with me.  Wakey Wakey!  She answers back, she just got up too.  We argue with ourselves to get out of bed, and eventually the mind wins.  Up.  Go.  Do it.  You'll feel better.  You won't regret it.  And so we do.

I hate ending up at the front of the class right in front of the instructor.  Because that means everyone is looking past little old not super flexible or strong ME, to see the instructor.  But that's where I ended up today.  I tried to not let it bother me.

Literally everyone in the class was pointed in my direction.  I tried to focus internally, listen to the body, ignore the other people's poses and not compare them to my own.  I might get deeper than you in the hip opener, but you can sure hold that plank longer.  No.  Turn off the inner monologue.

Focus on the breath.  Maintain the ujjayi pranayama (yoga breathing, most common breathing technique for the flow yoga stuff.).

Breathe in, arms up.  Breathe out, fold, bend knees if hamstrings demand it.  Breathe in, half way lift, breathe out and fold again, relax the head and neck.  The instructions flow through the room and every person breathes together.  We move together.

We hold the balances and fall out one by one, each doing what we can.  No one judging.  No one laughing at our inability to hold simple poses, or go deep in the folds.  We are each there, each on our own journey, each doing our best.  And that is what matters.  We are one.  We are a clan, moving on our personal journeys, but together.  And it is beautiful.

No matter if you work out alone, if you run in the early morning hours, or lift weights, or find time to hit the gym, join a class...  if you sit in your office doing chair exercises between phone calls, or do some crunches and push ups and jumping jacks in your living room...  know we are in this with you.

We understand that you might not want to get up and do something today.  But we also know how awesome you will feel if you get yourself to do it.  You can do this.  I can do this.  Together, we can make the choices to better ourselves, and step forward once more on our journey to fitness.  To health.

Thank you for joining me!  You all, knowing you are in this with me, keep me going.  Thank you for keeping me accountable.  I'm grateful to each and every one of you for that.

Have a wonderful Friday, and a lovely weekend!  Namaste.