Me, doing yoga? By Guest Blogger Rosemary Keane

I met Rosie a few months ago when she started coming to yoga with several friends. As I got to know her I found that we shared a common interest in blogging. She wrote this beautiful blog about her experience with yoga. I have to say I got a little teary when I read it. Be sure to check out Rosie’s amazing blog, 3 rosebuds about life and family.

Me, doing Yoga?

Before I began the practice of yoga myself, I wasn’t sure if I could actually “do it.” I mean, I have had a love/hate relationship with my body for years (often more hate than love) and don’t fit anywhere near the image of a yogi that I would have pictured. I drag myself to the gym, count calories to lose weight and just generally obsess about what is wrong when I look in the mirror. I thought that yoga would help with my flexibility and maybe even contribute to some pounds disappearing from the scale.

What I didn’t realize was that yoga would be something completely different than any other type of exercise I have done. In fact, now that I have been practicing yoga for several months, I don’t even think of it as exercise. It’s not running on the treadmill watching the speed and distance and it’s nothing like trying to keep up with the complicated choreography of a kick boxing class; it truly is a practice that deepens as you continue it.

I am constantly amazed at what my body, which is quickly entering middle age, can do. I often find myself feeling really empowered by one pose (balance and back bends seem to come easily to me) and the next minute humbled by another (eagle comes to mind). But the body-hate doesn’t come to yoga with me the way it follows me other places. This practice is discovery, acceptance and peace. It’s not about beating the body into submission; it is about seeing the potential in each pose and embracing it for what it is and what I can do.

Of course, there are still times when Barbara will demonstrate a pose and I am automatically looking for the alternate, but the practice of yoga is about stretching and reaching and enjoying the process, not reaching some artificial goal or getting it “right.”

Yoga has become a sanctuary in my life-a place of safety, peace and joy.
Namaste.