Yoga and Stretching Your Limits

I’m back on the mat. After what? 5 years? I remember doing yoga regularly during the lock down back in 2020 with my aunt and mom. We were in Trivandrum for 3 months with no way to get back to Chennai. All flight and train operations were suspended indefinitely. Attempts to get vehicle passes proved futile. Having a routine helped us all stay sane through the uncertainty. And then life happened and we all went back to our old ways.

I didn’t realize how much my body missed it. My dear friend N nudged me in the right direction by flooding my inbox with yoga videos. After a brutal winter where I pretty much stayed indoors and gave up my daily walks, I rushed outside on a balmy day in February only to succumb to pollen allergies. The weather has been consistently warm since then but all the cars outside are covered in pollen. So I’ve just shut myself indoors since I don’t fancy triggering my nasty allergies again. Yoga came as sweet relief.

An achy elbow that has been bothering me for weeks healed after 2 sessions. My mood was elevated. I found myself smiling at the face staring back at me in the mirror and also humming and singing out aloud. The other day I put on some music and danced in my living room!

And as of last weekend, I think my friend G and I have decided to do Zumba together once a week. She has also benefited from yoga stretches and is generally feeling good.

Yoga is more than just stretching your body. It gently pushes you out of your comfort zone both physically and existentially, one stiff muscle and one rigid idea at a time. When I went back to yoga in Florida several years ago, I was ready to get back to work. The kids were in school and although I loved volunteering, I really missed writing. A 100 job applications and rejections later I would give up. I’d give it a break for a few months and then the restlessness would creep back in. Again, I’d apply to jobs relentlessly and nothing would materialize.

Yoga taught me that if my body didn’t bend a certain way, I needed to be forgiving. Don’t push it. Try a variation. So instead of pushing against a wall, I decided to open a window and see if that window would offer me a way out. Instead of applying for jobs that I thought I was qualified for, I tried finding something local using my network at school. That’s how I landed my first job. It wasn’t perfect, but after years of being unemployed, I was grateful for something…anything!

My blog was my attempt at channeling my creativity while I waited for an opportunity to write for a living. But now it’s a collage of my life experiences and how they have shaped me. Yoga taught me to adapt. If I was fixated on getting a writing job I would have never started a blog. I wanted to write. So I wrote and shared my life advice with those who would listen. It didn’t matter if I was getting paid or not. Writing soothed my soul and helped me connect very deeply with my readers.

Another thing that yoga taught me is that the body remembers and although it may not bend the way it used to, with practice and time, it will. And this wisdom of yoga extends to other areas of your life that you have given up on. Things you’ve locked up in a chest and discarded for good. Things you thought you were never capable of. Maybe you’ve given up on love or happiness or good health or a meaningful life. But it’s deep in your heart and in your bones just waiting for you to go looking for it. Remember you had it once and you can have it again and again and again. It may take time and lots of effort but it is possible.

So what will you unlock? What will you revive? It’s really up to you!