How did you come to yoga?

[Emma]

Let's hear your story about how you first got involved in yoga! =)

I will share mine soon, too.

[Yogamum]

I was going to tell my story here, but I am too lazy to rewrite it, so I'll just point to my blog, where I explain the whole thing!

Tim has some great yoga stories collected on his blog!

[CJ]

Yogamum's blog has mine on there too. Yey for yogamum!

[Nona Jordan]

I, too, will point y'all to my blog... http://everydayyogini.com, to the side where it says "About the Yogini"...

[Bendy]

In the olden days, yoga was not cool and if you worked in a profession with a bunch of older men (like I did), you didn't go around saying you "did yoga." This was back in the late 80s. It's hard to imagine now how the general public looked at yoga, because it's so mainstream. It was weird, weird, weird back then.

Anyway, the Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram had a family yoga session once a week and I would take my daughter (then a toddler). It was light weight and fun.

From there, I took various classes, bought videos, practiced off and on until about 2001, when my gym hired two excellent yoga teachers. One taught a type of flow yoga and the other Iyengar. So I would take classes from both teachers every week (3-4 classes). I never practiced at home, though, figuring that "all that yoga" was enough.

So I did that for a couple of years and then we moved to another part of town. I looked for yoga classes near our new home, but nothing appealed. Then, back in spring 2005, I got a catalog for the new rec center that was just opening two blocks from our house and ashtanga yoga was listed. I didn't know anything about ashtanga, but felt a strong pull to take the class. I did. I started with one class a week, then went to two, then started going to an ashtanga studio for guided classes, then Mysore classes. Six months after I started, I went to a workshop with Annie Pace (that almost killed me). I met a great guy (who happened to go to school with my older step-sister) who hooked me up with a group of ashtangis that practice in my part of town. That same guy told me on the first morning of the workshop that Annie Pace's guided class was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. Thanks for telling me that. I didn't know the sequence yet, so on the last day, during the Mysore class, I put my mat next to him and followed. I think I skipped a pose or two, though. But I was glad that Annie didn't stop me halfway through, which I was kind of expecting.

After that, I started practicing several times a week with my new friends. Now I generally practice with K three times a week and sometimes with others, depending on their schedules (K and I are the ones without kids at home). We usually go to a Mysore class on Sundays. The whole group gets together every once in a while and does a practice followed by a potluck. We did this last weekend, and had eight people practicing and thirteen for dinner, plus four kids. I am so glad to be part of this yoga community. It's a beautiful thing.

Oh, and now I even have a yoga room! It's only used for meditation and yoga. My husband and I tore out the carpet and put in those stick on tiles---it's great.

[Nona Jordan]

Bendy, how awesome that you have a Yoga room! In our new place, we have two living rooms and one room will be my Zen room... I will practice and teach privates in there and I CAN'T WAIT! Anyway, I also love the part where you took your toddler to Yoga classes. That is so sweet...

[Bendy]

Nona,

I feel so blessed to have a yoga room!

My daughter still practices with me every once in a while. :)

(And I apologize to everyone for my post being so darn long---what was I thinking?! Like you want to read a tome on how I started practicing yoga! Sheesh.)

[Bendy]

Linda, sounds very cool! My yoga room was my daughter's room, and she painted it blue with sponged-on creamy white. I like it, so we didn't repaint.

Yeah, dogs aren't allowed in the yoga room, although Isabel sneaks in there every once in a while and grabs my eye pillow. She loves that thing for some reason (probably feels good on her teething gums).

[Yogamum]

I think the long yoga story was the whole idea!!! I loved hearing all of that.

[Erin]

Oh, a yoga room! I fantasize about having one someday!

[Putmoo]

I started a while back after my second child was born - actually she was 10 months old. When I had my first, my pelvis did not realign after the birth and something did not feel right when I ran. I finally found a chirporactor to diagnose it and fix my pelvic alignment. What a relief. He also told me that I had a weak back and shoulders. The second time around (pregnancy) I stayed aware of how my pelvic region felt during and after. At the same time, Madonna had her pregnancy and she stopped running and biking and took up yoga. She stated that this yoga replaced the previous exercise she used to do. I thought that a type of yoga that replaces running and biking is something I have got to try. Our local rec. center started to offer Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga so I signed up mostly to have a night out of the house away from the two kids. I was amazed how subtly difficult it was even though we went very slowly (the teacher didn't want to frighten us!). I kept going and here I am. I even started teaching a little bit about five years ago. But it has slowly changed everything for me. I no longer run and don't really miss it. I used to be a serious runner- I completed 12 marathons and used to log 2000 miles of running a year. Not anymore. I have pretty much stuck with the Ashtanga tradition becuase of my teachers and I feel like this one works very well for me. We have had wonderful teachers here in Colorado and I have wonderful yoga friends who keep me honest. So that helps during my lazy times.

[Bendy]

Thank God for yoga friends. ;)

(TWELVE marathons!! OMG)

[Steven]

I started yoga maybe 7 years ago when I lived in Portland. I'd been curious about it, and I figured it would be a good complement to bike racing and sitting in front of computers at work. The first day my teacher said "you're a cyclist aren't you?" I guess extremely tight hamstrings but powerful warrior poses gave me away! But experiencing how imbalanced I am, and how much more balanced I felt after that first class, had me hooked. Since then, yoga has kept me sane, fit, competitive on the bike, balanced, inspired and peaceful, and is a lifelong journey that I look forward to for years to come.