Pale-yo-ga

Please excuse the lack of Paleo significance today, Lovelies. Today is more whole-person wellness.

It’s confession time.

As many of you know, I try to be as positive as possible in my everyday life. I am one who believes in taking things as they are in the moment and moving forward in a productive way. I have a positive view of karma, in the sense that life brings you the lessons you need as you need them. I try not complain about the trivial, and I am mindful of how I voice my complaints about the significant. However, yesterday I found myself downright griping.

Yes. Me. Griping.

It was not pretty, and I felt awful afterwards, despite my careful attention to Paleo eats all day.

Let me elaborate:

Two years ago I fell in love with a yoga studio. Three days a week (if not more) I’d attend classes with amazing instructors inside this refurbished barn, all for $27.00 per month. Which, for a busy professional mother–or anyone, really–was a bargain! I’d relish every delicious second of blissful Svaroopa yoga beneath the wide, exposed beams lined with soft white string lights. During challenging sequences in Vinyasa classes, I’d focus on the faint sounds of water passing in the stream outside the open loft doors. I’d enjoy peppermint oil massaged onto my temples and neck at the end of every Sunday’s Restorative Yoga session until last year, when the very best yoga studio I’d ever practiced in shut its doors.

I felt like a jilted lover. I mourned. I thought I moved on–unaware until yesterday just how truly bitter I still am about the whole thing.

After an exchange on Facebook with fitness-minded friends and some soul-searching last night, I came to recognize that I’m upset about several things:

• The studio closed,
• There are not AFFORDABLE, QUALITY studios in the area (and by affordable, I mean studios that offer unlimited yoga for less than $85-$110/month, and, by quality, I mean classes taught by a yogi who intends to instruct body, mind, and spirit),
• My practice, which had seen such growth and improvement has stagnated (Gag! That word! You, Lovelies, know how I feel about stagnation!),

However, despite recognizing all of these things, NONE of them are what’s REALLY bothering me.

Want to know what I discovered?

I’M what’s bothering me! Yes, you read that correctly. It’s me! I’m the problem!

The studio closed. So what. Studios come and go. I could have kept up my practice at home. I had learned enough to do that. I chose not to.

Studios in the area are expensive (a minimum of $15/class). Quality instructors deserve to be paid what they’re worth, even if quality students can’t always afford them. I could have taken my $27.00/month budget and stretched it to attend a class every other week while still practicing regularly at home. Again, I chose not to.

My practice stagnated because I let it. Not because the studio closed. Not because of my tiny budget. I let something I love wither because I didn’t accept things as they were in that moment, and, yesterday, I recognized that I had not, in fact, moved forward in a productive manner. Luckily, I can see the path before me now.

With my nutrition in check and my PCOS symptoms almost back under control, a consistent home yoga practice is my next goal. (Unassisted handstands by next summer!).

In addition to my own internal motivation, my children’s budding interest in their own health and wellness–from what they put into their bodies to what they put their bodies through both physically and emotionally–is ever an inspiration. This exploration of a yoga practice, though highly personal, is also a family adventure–one that I hope lasts a lifetime!

In order to make this happen I have selected two excellent resources for at-home use:

• www.yogajournal.com/fitnesschallenge–This 21-day challenge begins on September 9th, and is FREE! (WooooHoooo! I LOVE things that affect positive personal change with no negative budget effects!)

Lovelies, it is never my intent to sell you anything. I think you are very capable of making your own decisions; however, I have found a treasure trove of a site!

• My Yoga Online offers unlimited access to full-length yoga videos, articles, music, and so much more! If you are interested in a free two-week trial of My Yoga Online, please feel free to send me your preferred email address @ perfectlypaleosister1@hotmail.com.

Feel free to comment with other fantastic Pale-yo-ga sources!