After working at Sanford House for a little over a year I decided to listen to the clinicians’ advice and try some meditation. Their whole philosophy is about helping clients find the place from which they draw strength. Meditation, specifically yoga, is a great way to start some serious self discovery and it’s mixed in with major health benefits.
So to start my journey I found a Groupon for a hot yoga place down the street and decided to put my overpriced Lululemon leggings to use. Only a few classes in and I was hooked.
Now I’m no Instagram yogi, but the improvement I’ve made in the past few months in astounding to me. While I have “mastered” crow pose and my chaturanga isn’t too shabby, I still have to master the quiet mind.
If you’ve done any form of meditation you know what I am talking about. The one time of the day where my mind is supposed to be at rest it seems the most active. So see if you can relate to 8 things that run through my mind during meditation…
1. Prays I Remembered Deodorant![]()
The feeling of forgetting to put on deodorant before hot yoga is something I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy…Okay maybe I would. You got me there. But it’s horrible, it’s like thinking you left the oven on, or forgetting to lock your car at a concert. It’s every social fear crashing down at once, and it’s all you can think about.
2. Should I Open or Close My Eyes?
The real “To Be or Not To Be” of meditation am I right? I never know what to do, so most times I just close my eyes and go with the fake it ’til ya make strategy. I also think that if I have my eyes closed the instructor will think I’m deep in thought and won’t come over and push me deeper in a pose.
3. Bodies Can Do That?
Word to the wise; if you’re feeling good about where your pose is and you know you’re doing it as correct as you can, don’t look around. The instructor is one thing, I know your job is to bend like a straw while inspiring me to achieve similar strength and increase the length of my hamstrings. It’s more the little old lady who has about 40 years on me who is always showing me up. Never underestimate the little old lady in the second row.
4. Stop Thinking
About halfway through my to do list for the day I realize that I am not supposed to be thinking. So I tell myself not to think, but then I am thinking about not thinking. Soon enough I am naming the pros and cons of renewing my Spotify premium account. Shortly after I decide I can’t go back to listening to commercials, I stop thinking purely because I have exhausted all brain capacity while hold chair pose for like the fifteenth time.
5. I Am Becoming a Yoga Goddess
About three rounds into the practice I get this angelic epiphany where I just think “Wow, you are Beyonce.” The best thing about yoga is that when I am done I feel amazing and it makes me think that I look amazing too. I get a power surge where I feel like I can do anything and that I am on the right track. I read Skimm this morning, I attempted (but failed) to eat kale, and I did yoga. I’m doing all right.
6. Are These Leggings See Through?
When you’re spending about 30–40% of the class in down dog you bet this thought it going run through your head. This again goes with forgetting to wear deodorant. Just a horrible fashion decision that makes you question everything.
7. Focuses on Not Bumping Into Someone
Sometimes you’re just not on the same wavelength with the person next to you which can cause an awkward hand graze with your neighbor. This is another place where closing your eyes can have some major yogi benefits. “I’m so zen right now I am not even focusing on the fact that another human’s sweat is on my hand. It’s fine. So zen. Ommmmm.”
8. What’s For Dinner?
I just love food. It’s as simple as that. Besides dogs it’s probably the most non work related topic I think about during the day. During lunch you can catch me watching puppy videos or those Tasty food tutorials on Facebook. They are my kryptonite.
But even when I get distracted I never regret going to my mat.
I never go away thinking “I could think of a better way to spend that hour”. It’s a time for me to center myself in my day and focus on myself.
Meditation is never about becoming the best, but it’s about becoming the best version of you. It’s the active decision to take time out of your day to focus on you and discovering yourself. I can totally get on board with this whole meditation and yoga thing everyday. Just another example that the clinicians really do know best.
Namaste.
