It's an early Tuesday morning. Just past the hardest and most dreadful day of the week (Monday), but not nearly far enough into the week to wake up without feeling immediately drained. I've probably hit the snooze button too many times and the sky is gray, casting a dim glow into my room. I sit up and glance around. Another morning feeling zero motivation and zero happiness. I go over today's to-do list in my head and flop back down under the covers, as the thoughts of everything that needs to get done overwhelm me. What has my life come to? I sit and stare at a computer screen for hours on end trying to meet deadlines, be on time for Zoom meetings, turn in assignments. It is a never-ending stream of intense stress with barely any time to unwind and relax. Something has to give.

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After a few more grueling weeks, I decided that stress eating every hour isn't really helping my mental or emotional state as much as it's satisfying my physical state. I opened my laptop and began typing away, eagerly searching for some way to combat this season I'm in. Somehow, I stumbled on a few suggestions that all pointed to yoga. I pondered the thought, letting it marinate. "Yoga? That super hard, super crazy exercise that makes people flexible?" I thought. But that thought was almost immediately silenced when I looked down at the chip bag, cereal bowl, and candy wrappers littering my bed. I picked up my phone and opened the App Store. I typed in the word "yoga" and found a free, popular app simply named exactly that. It resembled an app I used previously to help me get better abs and that wasn't very successful. I prayed that this wouldn't be another disappointment. I quickly set up a schedule: Monday through Friday, with a goal to complete two sections in the app, at different times of the day. I smiled and looked down at my plans for the next two weeks and felt excitement. Maybe this would actually help. Maybe yoga would somehow help change my life. 

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Day #3- Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. 

I wrote this at the beginning of today's entry in the journal I kept to document my 2-week experience with practicing yoga. The day hadn't been good to me. I was diagnosed with something extremely close to Crohn's Disease back in March this year. It had been a hard, painful journey learning how to find a new normal with this new sickness. Today, I was having an episode-- which is when my day is completely interrupted and centered around trying to soothe and eradicate the pain in my abdomen, caused by Crohn's. I want to take a rain check on my yoga sessions for the day but decide against it. Maybe this is exactly what I need to help ease this pain and fatigue. I grabbed some more comfortable clothes, appropriate for a light workout, and powered up the app. 

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I jolted awake as the soft voice of the built-in instructor from the app told me that the workout was complete. I stretched and let out a loud, happy sigh. The pain had subsided, my mind and body felt so relaxed and I was finally ready to get some real sleep. I jot down a few notes in my journal and slip under the blankets, completely in awe at how good I felt after only 3 days. 

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"The word ‘Yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’, meaning ‘to join’ or ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’. As per Yogic scriptures, the practice of Yoga leads to the union of individual consciousness with that of the Universal Consciousness, indicating a perfect harmony between the mind and body, Man & Nature." This quote, written by Dr. Basavaraddi in an article entitled, Yoga: Its Origin, History, and Development, is precise in its definition. Only a few days into my 2-week experience I found that yoga is more than just about making someone flexible or holding difficult poses for long periods of time. Unlike many other types of exercise or physical conditioning programs, yoga allows people to tap into the mind-body connection and gives way to a renewing that goes way beyond learning how to balance on one foot. Another article captures the moving story of a woman named Beverly Grant who had encountered terrible losses and trials in her life when she found yoga. "In the midst of debilitating loss, it was practicing yoga and meditation that provided some semblance of peace and balance. Yoga then continued to be a grounding force through the isolation of the pandemic, her long days at home, and the death of her mother in April (Whitfield, 2020)." In the face of pain, extreme levels of stress, and heartache, Grant found a way to get through it all with the help of yoga. For the duration of these 2 weeks, I have learned that it is a practice of restoration and has proven to be a positive, uplifting experience that soothes the mind and calms the body. As an African American woman and someone who has gone through heart-breaking losses and trauma, I connected to this story of Grant on every level. And just like her, I was able to find solace through yoga. 

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Not only is yoga itself such a deeply rooted practice, but even the yoga poses hold a much deeper meaning themselves. As I began to learn and memorize the names of many of the yoga poses, the warrior pose stuck out to me the most, due to its constant presence in each section of the app. One incredibly interesting article entitled, Warrior Poses, delves into the history behind this pose and how it was awarded its name. "The origin of the warrior poses, Virabhadrasana I, II, and III [are] derived from an ancient story of Lord Shiva. The warrior poses illustrate an incident that occurred in the celestial realms in a timeless time long ago. This is a story of love, attachment, pride, shame, vengeance, violence, sadness, compassion, and renunciation. The whole gamut of emotions can be found in this tale of pride and transformation (Gannon, 2018)." The article goes on to say talk about how Lord Shiva had married a woman named Shakti and the two were completely in love with each other. However, Shakti's father did not approve of their matrimony. Her father's great disdain drove Shakti to ultimately take her own life and this, of course, enraged Shiva. His anger transformed into a warrior called Virabhadra, and each warrior pose mimics each pose Virabhadra took as he became the warrior Shiva formed him to be. Another article, authored by Koya Webb, tells this same story but also presents an overview of each warrior pose and highlights the benefits each one gives. All three poses share wonderful physical advantages, which is one reason that makes the warrior pose very popular and well-known. In only a single pose, one can find an extensive history, a forgotten story, a shocking revelation that reveals an interesting origin. Just as this one pose carries a rich, timeworn story, so does every person who practices this fine art. Understanding where and how yoga came about, allows for a deeper connection that opens up the mind and body to endless possibilities, all with the reward of greater flexibility and heightened endurance.

 

3 Weeks After My 2 Week Experience... 

 

It's a sunny, warm day, the kind that makes you want to go ride your bike or walk your dog or have a picnic under the shade of the trees. I was feeling good but overwhelmed with the amount of work that needed to be completed for the week. I pulled out my notebooks, looked up assignments, checked my calendar. I let out a sigh and put everything away. With my eyes closed, I begin to breathe in and out slowly, letting my body relax and become still. I immediately started to encourage myself with memorized scriptures, prayers, my favorite quotes. "Inhale. Exhale. It is well. It is well, " I told myself. It was a quote that had become like a mantra to me and that was by one of my absolute favorite writers, Morgan Harper Nichols. I quickly grabbed my phone, moved down to the ground, and powered up the Yoga app that had now become so familiar to my routine. I clicked the Energy Booster section and smiled as the instructor's voice flowed through my phone's speakers. It was three weeks after my initial two weeks of trying out yoga and I couldn’t find a reason to stop. I got into the first pose, smiled, and breathed. This little, purple Yoga app had actually somehow changed my life. 

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