Back to the mat

Today I got back to the mat for the first time in a while. I've found a new yoga home at Prana Power Yoga at 17th and Broadway. It's usually not quite as hot as SLIH, but there was a visiting teacher today not used to the systems, so it was actually very hot.

Going back after a long hiatus, I have more of an appreciation of what my body was able to do before. Just like Joni MItchell says, "you don't know what you've got till it's gone."

Re-entry is humbling, but I know that I'll get there again and reach even further this time.

I'm doing it for myself and not to lose weight or look a certain way but to feel healthy, energized and renewed.

Since my last post, so very long ago, I've been very tempted to delete this thing and erase all digital traces of my false start at blogging. Instead, I decided to stick to it, so here's what I've been up to since my first and only post.

A few days after my last post, I attended Baron Baptiste's Personal Revolution 1 day workshop in New York City. I really wanted a day of renewal and community with other yogis and, unable to convince any of my NY friends to join me, there I was by myself... with about 200 strangers... mat to mat in the Puck building in New York's Soho.

I did see some familiar faces from the studio I had been going to-
Some Like it Hot . Others I met came from all over the country, so I felt lucky to have walked from the West Village.

I went into it a little bit scared that I would not be able to sustain myself for that long, but I was pleasantly surprised and even managed to practice a handstand with the help of my neighbor- a woman with two kids whose husband and children hung out in New Jersey while she spend the day at the workshop. In fact, there were lots of women with families who came with friends for a retreat. The theme of investing in one's self kept coming up as Baron passed the mike around for people to talk about their experiences.

One of the great things that stuck with me from the weekend was the idea of your mat as your mirror- that everything going on in your life manifests itself on the yoga mat.

All in all, the Personal Revolution weekend was a great experience and one I would want to have again- maybe next time with other people.

The bad thing was that shortly after my weekend, I got a bad cold. Not being able to breathe well, I had to give up the yoga classes for a while and that, combined with the holidays, caused me to lose a lot of the strength and confidence I had gained since I began practicing.

Now I'm back and have made a new commitment to myself- on weekdays that I don't have social plans, my default will be to go to yoga class. I like default better than a goal of 3 times a week or something similar because it takes out the option and the ability to delay. I'll report back on how it goes along with reviews of the three studios I've been to in NY. Besides SLIH there's Big Apple Power Yoga and Prana Power Yoga.

The beginning

OK- I've finally decided to go down the rabbithole and start my own blog. I know the delete button is a click away and probably no will find my voice amidst the constant hum of white noise out there, but for a girl who's ripped the pages out of every journal I've ever owned, this feels BIG.

I've had a bunch of ideas for "almost blogs" but we'll save those for another day. In the end (or rather the beginning), I've chosen to chronicle my adventures in yoga as a way of getting myself to commit to it beyond the honeymoon phase. Wish me luck!