“May this inspire you to do the same”
I have always been active, in my teens I would go for runs, in my twenties and thirties I was always taking aerobic, Less Mills and Zumba classes. Loved it until I noticed that I began to feel tired and drained instead of feeling good and empowered after class. I felt I needed to change my physical routine, didn’t know how to but knew the old way wasn’t working for me anymore.
At home I started a morning yoga routine, trying my best to do the Sun Salutation A, counting them and slowly building it up to 12 rounds before I would start my day. It was really very basic, but I really liked the feeling it gave me throughout my day. I started telling people about my ‘yoga routine’ and how it made me feel when my husband said; if you think you are doing yoga, you’re not! If you like the Sun Salutation so much, why don’t you try out a Yoga class and learn more. Then you can say you do yoga!
I still vividly remember my first yoga class, heart pounding, legs crossed, rapid breathing, feeling nervous as the teacher started talking and telling us to close our eyes, My mind said, this is it, this is your first time….
After this first yoga classes in the gym and I felt like this was IT. I felt good and light after, and even better I started noticing feeling happy and content the rest of my day!
This inner feeling further ignited my curiosity and passion for Yoga , I started to join regular classes and gained knowledge of and got better alignment in the asanas. Yoga helped me in my own body awareness, how I move, what my body is capable of and made me also more aware of what I was putting into my body. My eating habits because of practicing yoga changed, I went back to being the vegetarian I was while growing up, I lost weight and generally felt better and more confident in my body.
I can honestly say that yoga helped me in my inner and outer life, and that is also why I wanted to become a yoga teacher, to share this practice to help and inspire others.
How about your first experience with yoga? What did it mean or do to you? I really am curious to find out so please share!
Lots of love,
Lonneke
