Three years ago, I was out with friends on a Tuesday night, enjoying a pint of beer. New Year’s Day had come and gone, and I had broke every potential resolution in my repertoire. You know, the promise to eat healthier, exercise more, or my personal favorite– the less tangible resolutions such as stopping procrastination, adopting a more positive outlook, or thinking nice things about others. Yet, with every sip of ale, I slipped further and further from these improvements… until my ultimate resolution ended up being an exclamation that “this was going to be the year that I was going to let myself be happy.” So, to hell with the facts that these beers weren’t of the watered-down low-cal variety, or that one more beer was not only going to ensure that I absolutely did not get up early to go for that run, but that I most certainly was going to hit the snooze button multiple times until I convinced myself that last night’s mascara and eyeliner still looked fresh enough to roll straight into work (at least 15 minutes late after sitting in a drive- thru lane; hopefully, this time the drive-thru visit would be for a “skinny latte” instead of a breakfast burrito),
But, then in my buzzed pursuit of happiness, I had a lightening bolt moment. Each month, I would sign up for a new activity– I would learn something new! It would be a year of self-improvements until I found what I was searching for– a happy me. What was on the list you may ask? Yoga, Spanish, golf, tennis, improv, knitting, gardening, sculpting, painting, swimming, I can’t remember them all, but I had a list and a month assigned to them all. For additional reinforcement, I recruited my drinking buddy.
The next morning while I nursed a headache, I sent a text “ready for a new us?” Little did I know that I had never been so right. And so I began my search for a yoga studio when my friend found this tiny studio. Having grown up with yoga, I wasn’t nervous about what to expect, I just wanted to find a style of yoga that would give me results…like Jennifer Aniston results. I was sure that I would go to class and be bored out of my mind because it was just another gym style yoga class. But, then this instructor busted out 2 arm balance poses, and all of a sudden, I was hooked. I was sweating. My muscles were fatigued nit just thoroughly stretched. This wasn’t my mamma’s type of yoga. And it wasn’t a hatha yoga class masquerading as power yoga, promising toning in a relaxed atmosphere.
This here was yoga. It was a real deal workout. And I wasn’t about to be the only one in the class who couldn’t do the arm balance, but to my ego’s surprise… I was. I was finally challenged. I finally left a class feeling not only satisfied but rewarded.
Over the next month, I didn’t miss a class. To my surprise, I kept wanting more. It wasn’t a struggle of willpower to get to class. I started feeling the benefits. After a month, my friends were constantly asking what I was doing to look so healthy? I had more definition in my arms and shoulders than I had ever before. My skin was clearer and my eyes brighter; my muffin top whittling away (of course, I admit that these changes came not only from my yoga practice but also from the fact that I didn’t want to erase the benefits of my workout with midweek beer drinking). That same month, I did not notice these same transformations in my friend who was supposed to begin this New Year happiness challenge with me. But, then again, she only made one yoga class and was still hitting the happy hour scene.
In contrast, by two months, I finally had lift-off with an arm balance, and my practice soared! I looked great in my clothes and I finally didn’t have to use the sorority arm pose in pictures to create an illusion of a not flabby arm. But, I will admit I still did it because now if I propped that arm out on my hip, my arms looked ripped! I also had a calmness about me that satisfied that need to constantly be out, searching for some type of entertainment to distract me. I had found that mind-body connection about which so many yogis gloated. I was balanced — both in spirit and on my toes!
Of course, all this yoga did take its toll on my resolution to try new activities each month. So, in that sense, I failed to keep yet another resolution. But, I was happy… so maybe I hadn’t after all?