For years now, I have put my own needs on the back burner. Scratch that. I have taken my own needs off of the stove completely, and the pot has been resting on the counter. Which I am totally okay with. While my kids were very young, their needs were my number one priority, and I wouldn't change that choice for anything. But now that they are getting older, and needing me a little bit less every day, I need to learn to make myself an important part of my life again. Which, for some reason, is hard and weird. I figured that I should start with the most important missing piece first, exercise.
I have been trying for a couple of years now to "get back into shape". I have tried different exercise regimes, classes at a local gym, and super restrictive diets. While all of these were amazing, and I know for damn sure that they would have for sure would have gotten me to where I thought I wanted to be. But for some reason, I always managed to sabotage my hard work. I could go three weeks without cheating on my diet, and then I would crash and burn. And, repeat. I would get into the swing of things with my exercise programs, and then just stop. Not because it was too hard or I wasn't seeing results. I didn't even know why I was stopping. But I was.
Fast forward to a few months ago. Lisa Craig opened up Inner Dawn Yoga in a studio space on Front Street, overlooking a beautiful terrace, and the St. Clair River. I instinctively knew that that is were I needed to be. I had previously practiced yoga, in my former life. I actually practiced it for fifteen years. I started at the tender age of 13 in my living room. I saw an early morning yoga program on tv and fell in love. I did yoga somewhat consistently for the next 15 years. After I had my first two children, and right through my third pregnancy, I continued to come to the mat. Even though it was a little less frequently then I wanted to, it was better then never. When my third child was born, I just was so busy, that I totally stopped altogether. That was five years ago.
About a month ago, I attended my very first yoga class in years. I probably would have felt less anxious about it if I had never done yoga. But, since I had, and I knew my potential, and I was NO where near that level, I felt embarrassed to try again in front of others. Literally the second that my feet crossed the threshold into the studio, all of my nervous feelings totally subsided. The faint smell of incense, the quiet shuffles and whispers of the people waiting for the class to start, the calming music, the beautiful sunlight pouring in through the wall of windows. It was magical. It was like coming home. At no point through that first class did I feel out of place like I thought I was going to. The class was so diverse. All ages, body types, and abilities, practicing together. Lisa is incredible at what she does. She is constantly showing you modifiers for poses that in no way make you feel like you suck. Instead, she makes you feel empowered. Repeating things like " This is your practice, no one else's."
After a few weeks of classes at the studio, and daily practice at home I decided to do her detox workshop. Wowza. An hour of learning about different ways to detoxify your body, followed by a two hour, intense program. I can't remember the last time that I sweat that much. Her next workshop is on February 16th. Chakra Workshop. Last time I checked, she had two spots let. I would highly recommend it.
~Shannon
