From Arabesques to Namaste

When I was but a wee lass, ballet was my way of life. At 10, I was already hooked on the after class endorphine high. At 12, I attended double classes thrice a week. What I loved about going to ballet class was that each plie or arabesque was a chance to get the correct posture and form. It wasn't only the challenge of getting the position correctly, it was also the ability to mold my body to a perfect form. Each class was, to me, was of proving my perfection of a dance or a positon.

Second arabesque

 

Standing Bow pose 

Notice the similarity?   

And then life and other stuff happened so the weekends that were allotted for classes made room for hanging out with friends then to partying, then to working, then back to partying. Somewhere in the fray, I was able to kick my addiction to endorphine and replaced it with copious amounts of cigrarettes and alcohol. And then I realized I was getting older. *sigh*

I've been wanting to enroll in a class for health and fitness but I've always shied away from the brusque more intense workout gyms offers. And then last week, The Other Adik and I started taking bikram yoga classes. I've been interested in yoga and attending classes proved that it was the kind of workout I was looking for. You see, I have no concept of 'work out' or 'regimen'. With what I had in ballet, it was more a way of life than a past time.

What I love about yoga is that with a workout comes some philosophy. Yoga helps one achieve balance in body and mind. It does not exactly aim to create health but it helps a person sort out his or her internal environment from which a person will come to his or her own state of balance and health.  The Buddhist, also a yogini, loves the learning experience that she says she does not get from a gym. And it is a learning experience. In a week, I learned how to accept my limitations and the fact that my flexibility has been long gone and I am not in the pinkest when it comes to health. I've started to learn from my limitations and work with them instead of against them.

Yoga is not about being perfect, I think. It's about your own path to perfection and the way to understanding and perfecting a pose. It's about embracing your limitations and working your way to overcome them.