SEPTEMBER 2013


Healthy Outlooks By JiJi Russell


16 Yoga: A Practice for the Ages—and for all ages


listen to our bodies, minds, and spirits. Of all the nagging “coulda,


woulda, shouldas” that I can dream up, one thing I do feel grateful to have found at just the right time was my yoga practice. In truth, I think any time is a good time to begin yoga. The practice has followed me (or I have followed it) through many life stages, and it still captures my attention almost 20 years later. It is the most adaptable mind-body practice that I have yet to encounter in my [certain number of] years immersed in holistic wellness. To highlight some of the many oft-recited benefits of a regular yoga


focus and Have yourself,


you ever said “Wow.


I wish


to I


would have known/done [fill in the blank] back when I was younger”? A lot of yoga students over the years have


expressed that sentiment to me when they take up the practice of yoga. The statement reveals the possibility of remarkable discoveries and changes we can make when we slow down and


practice: improved concentration;


decreased anxiety; greater strength, flexibility, and balance;


better sleep; more


energy; a heightened spiritual connection; and even better digestion. When


I began a yoga


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practice in earnest in my 20s, I felt invigorated to find a full- body workout that


offered


something “more” than just a good sweat for me; something that stuck with me longer than simply the time I spent on the mat. The practice seemed to trickle into my life in the most curious ways, as it so often does for those who stick with it long enough to make their own discoveries. The very first yoga class I


can remember attending took place in the 1980s in a church recreation hall. The scene was typically


Jane Fonda-esque


for the times, women wearing headbands and leotards, with a smattering of funky vinyl mats spread around the room. I gladly threw my legs over my head into the “plow pose” that evening (not a pose I would ever recommend for beginners) and overall had a pleasant, if a little bit weird time (I was a teenager, after all). It wasn’t until about 10 years after the church hall experience that I began taking a regular yoga class. The place was New York City, and the teacher was a lovely French woman named Sophie. I enjoyed her voice and her matter of fact


“Dees pose will correct your digestion.” Not that I


delivery. really


cared much about my digestion


at that point. But it was an interesting factoid that I must have filed for later on, because now I can’t stop thinking about good digestion. It’s a vital part of feeling well and energetic. But I do diverge . . . . Fast forward through five years of dedicated study as a student of yoga, followed by an intensive yoga teacher training at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and I find myself today about to close my 11th year of teaching. As I reflect, I feel no less convinced of the abundance of gifts that yoga can bestow to the aspirant. It does take consistent time and effort—no one but you can do the practice for you—but the rewards keep me, and thousands of others, coming back to the mat time after time. As the regularity of my practice in the last six years has been whittled down quite significantly due to family and work obligations,


I’ve been


able to experience firsthand how many of the benefits I enjoyed while maintaining a daily


practice have, indeed,


slipped away. I try not to be too hard on myself, realizing that having to demote the priority of something that I love so dearly and then to beat myself up about it amounts to a double insult. Instead, I often look to


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