Yoga Saved My Life

So there was this one time in my life where shit wasn’t really falling in line. One time? Who am I kidding? But, that’s a different blog for another time. There was this one particular time in my life when I was a really held together beautiful mess. I didn’t take the time to take care of myself because I was too worried about making sure that I was everyone else’s everything. I would exhaust myself and every other possibility making things “right” for others while forgetting to make things right for myself. I could do everything, for everybody, and I never asked for help. Do you know how hard it is to appear to have it “all figured out” to be so “well put together” when you’re really about to explode? Preaching to the choir…I know! Being all of the things to everyone else for all of the reasons they need you to be is exhausting and self-damaging and enough was enough! Yoga saved my life.

I started my yoga practice way before I was married and became a mother. My husband and son are welcome. My yoga mat is the place where it is ok to be selfish without the guilt that usually comes with that, where in a room full of people, I am the only one I have to care for, where there is no judgement, where I can ball up and cry or just lay there and feel, where I DO NOT have to be a hero, but where I could be taken care of for once. No matter if I am in the comfort of my own home or in a crowded studio (man, do I ever miss a crowded yoga studio), I’m the only one I have to actually see. Yoga saved my life.

As a mom, I heavily depend on my yoga practice for guidance, for reassurance, and for clarity. Yoga puts me back together when the pieces of me are out of place. It reminds me that everything I can do is great, and so is everything I can’t do. It is my reward, my place of gratitude, and will always give me exactly what I need. The beautiful thing about yoga is that your practice is entirely yours. You make it be whatever you need it to be for you in that moment. Yoga saved my life.

~The Fit Mom