It's international yoga day! I thought I'd share some yoga love for the occasion!
Yoga is instrumental in helping me manage my physical and mental health! I want share with you why I yoga and why I think it's such a good fit for us gutsy girls (and guys too)!
I definitely do not mean that you should force a pose that your body clearly doesn't love. I do mean that balancing on one leg makes said leg burn! You learn to breathe through the uncomfortable, which happens a lot with my tummy so good thing I practice it a lot on my mat!
2. It isn't just what it looks like:
People always come up to me and say "oh, you look great" (what am I supposed to look like?) or "you don't look sick" (please tell me what does "sick" look like?). Yoga is like that. It looks (in a large part to stereotypes) like hippy gypsy flower child stuff... But it is so much more!
3. It takes more strength than you realize:
Sometimes grown tough men who "work out" puke mid yoga class... Have you seen kellie pickler's tv show?! It might look easy, you just try it and tell me what you think. And believe me, us gutsy gals and guys use a ridiculous amount of physical and mental strength to live with digestive disorders so yoga is just using all that strength in a more positive and productive way.
4. You learn it's ok to say no, not today:
Some days I can't hold a plank. Does this mean my core is a weakling, HELL NO...That thing is rock solid! What it does mean is that sometimes my ab muscles have been busy working around pain all day that the are just already tight and very tired. And that's ok!
5. It's ok to say no, not ever:
Where I go to yoga there are classes that combine combat fitness in with the yoga. Those are "not ever" classes for me. All that jumping around and sweating, not a gutsy gals friend! So just like I can say gluten and dairy are NEVER for me, it's fine if I say I'm not a combat fitness kinda gal!
6. Yoga is NOT only for tall, skinny, young women with yoga bodies:
Yoga, like colitis, does not discriminate. At 28 years old I was diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis, a disease with a typical onset of around 70ish years old! Why... Because celiac (fuck you celiac)! If anyone can get colitis anyone can do yoga! Seems logical right? There are bodies of all shapes, sizes, and ages that come to yoga with me. And Mr. Kat goes too, so yes, men can do yoga! Besides, have you seen Adam Levine lately? And my kiddos that I teach yoga to love it, so if I can get a room full of preschoolers down dogging it then it truly is for everyone! ;)
7. Break down what you thought were limitations:
I often feel limited, what I can eat, where I can go, what I can do because of disease. But at yoga I may think I can't do something but I try it and I can! I can't break down all limitations in my life, but yoga is one place where I can try!
8. Show up when you don't really feel like it:
Trust me you won't regret it! Sometimes I fee like I just don't have it in me to do many things... Go out with friends when I'm having issues or feel anxious about food, clean my house because I ran out of spoons, or go to yoga because my stomach just doesn't want to. Show up anyway, don't let your disease hold you back! Trust me that will just make you feel worse in the end.
9. Bend so you don't break:
Yoga breeds flexibility in all aspects of life. Sometimes us gutsy gals have to live so rigidly and anxiously that it's necessary to have a place where we can be flexible. Not everyone is going to understand your story, but that's ok, it's not for them. Unless they live life with these conditions they will never "get it". And I wouldn't want them to... I don't wish this on any body! Be flexible with others even if they aren't flexible with you. If you stay so rigid all that will happen is you will hurt yourself more.
10. Find a different center:
So many times we feel like disease is the center of our lives. Yoga teaches you to find a different center. Focus on what is good and healthy in your life, take that with you and leave the rest on the mat.
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