It was this time last March that I began my yoga practice. So much has changed for me. I am stronger, healthier, happier, more energetic, more connected with myself and others.
Inspired by my practice, I take better care of myself overall. I have adopted a vegan diet to support all the hard work I do in the yoga classes. ("Forks Over Knives" is an excellent and compelling documentary on the benefits of a plant-based diet and the risks of animal protein. www.forksoverknives.com Also, Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals presents a well-researched, thoughtful account of the horrors of factory farming and the moral reasons for a vegan diet.)
I challenge myself more often to "leave my comfort zone," not just on the mat but in life. I started a blog! Something I had never considered doing! I more easily enter and initiate unnecessary conversations- which may not sound like a great stride, but being an introvert, it is for me. I let things go that may have bothered me. My control over every aspect of my days is more relaxed.
I have made progress in my practice itself. I've lost 25 pounds (though that was not part of my motivation to begin- or continue- yoga). I can sometimes get my head to my knee in standing head to knee (though I still need to work on exiting gracefully!), I can sit lower in eagle, I can sometimes get my head to the floor in separate leg stretching, I can sometime balance for a moment in toe stand. There are also innumerable other ways I have progressed that aren't as easy to measure: I feel more balanced in standing bow (though I still fall out), I feel different and deeper stretches in triangle, fixed-firm, camel- really all of the postures.
As I revel in the changes of the past year, I look forward to the year ahead and the challenges and rewards of another 12 months of Bikram practice.
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