Is yoga intimidating?

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend, and she mentioned, to her yoga was intimidating. I looked at her puzzled. Yoga, intimidating? On the way home I started thinking about it. Okay, I can see that. I’m intimidated by hot yoga. Also known as Bikram yoga, where the room is around 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Doing a 90-minute class where you are pushed to your limits. Yeah, that one (though I’d like to try it) is a pass for me. Needing a towel for my mat and myself and three bottles of water? Others LOVE it, and that’s great! But yeah, one day I will check it out. The moves don’t worry me, it’s the heat.

There are so many different forms of yoga out there now that there is a yoga for everybody. And EVERY BODY is right for yoga. My sister had told a friend about my online class. And they asked her, is your sister super fit? She responded with, nope she is average. That’s another thing that gets mixed up with the yoga world. Out of all my in-person teachers, (and fellow students I went to teacher training with) only a few of them are super fit. Everyone else looked just like me. Average. All these Instagram, tik toks and any other media (magazines), they make yoga out to be this super fit, look at me fad. But really, it's not. Yoga has been around for thousands of years. In fact, a lot of what people do in dance and regular warmups comes from yoga. It is the oldest recorded form of exercise in history, practiced as early as 3300 BC (though its exact date and location of origin are uncertain). Since its beginnings, this exercise (we like to call it practice) of both body and mind has branched out into countless forms. I think that as more yoga places pop up and more people try it out, people will see one class may not be for you. But one may. It’s all about finding the right form and the right teacher. Your teacher is there to guide you through the practice and to help you reach your goal. But I’m not saying yoga is all you need. Only you know what your body needs.

So, is yoga intimidating? I guess there isn’t really an answer to that. It’s kind of like figuring out if that ride at the amusement park is? We look at its height and think, yeah no. But then you ride it, and you love it and want to do it again. And it becomes part of the trip every time you go. Or, you ride it and know, yup not doing that again. But at least you tried it, and you know. It’s no longer a mystery.

Yoga to me is relaxing, a workout for your body. But doing that 30minutes-hour long practice I can let go of the tension in my body, my mind starts to calm, and I start to feel more relaxed and me again. When I leave my mat, I can leave with a smile and know that it will be there waiting for me again tomorrow (or later that day).