Newbie in Yoga - by Anonymous

Something that no one told me would happen as I aged is that if you are not careful your world can shrink, it happens so slowly you don’t even realize it is happening. I always thought as a woman when you age that you gain more confidence in who you are, maybe that is yet to come, but in August when I turned 52 I realized that I was saying “no” a lot more in fear of being injured or not being able to keep up. Let me back track, I have been running since age 12, completed many races short up to the marathon and on my 50th did a 50km run on our beautiful Cowichan Valley Trails. Then on mother’s day 2023 after struggling for months with my IT band and back my body failed me or I failed my body, I could barely walk, and I gave up on not just running but life in general, other than work and daily mom duties that was it. I tried physiotherapy, chiropractic, stretching throughout the day, and yes acupuncture but nothing worked for more than a few days, I thought this is it I am going from a former fitness instructor and marathon runner, to a sit on her ass middle age woman that talks about the glory days, and

that caused a world of self doubt to set in. Summer 2023 I was able to walk the dog again and garden but I noticed that I was not trying to walk/run or go for longer walks, and saying no to most of my friends, yes work was crazy but the truth is I lost confidence within myself and my body.

Don’t worry folks, we are getting to the point about yoga, which brings me to two fun facts about myself one, I hate the heat, anything above 23 celcius I start complaining, two I hate stretching, which maybe why I got injured running, years of half sort of stretching after runs. I tell you this so you understand how strange it was that in September upon stumbling on Hotness Yoga and their new studio space in the Garage that I “Miss Hate Heat and Stretching” signed up not just for a class but an introductory monthly membership. I was terrified when I arrived, terrified that I

would pass out, look stupid, be surrounded by people who were young and fit, knew what they were doing, what if I threw up, or farted, or couldn’t finish the class, how embarrassing. The hardest part was arriving at the studio, laying out my mat, and introducing myself to Tiffany. Thankfully it was their first days in the new space and it was myself and one other person which made it sort of worse because I could hide in the back, but I felt supported not judged and afterwards I felt something that had left me, a spark of confidence. I started with Gentle Hatha, Yin-restorative, Vinyasa, Flow/Yin classes, and adding some runs before classes, now don’t get

me wrong I am not graceful, or know what I am doing, but I arrive on my mat confident that I am surrounded by a supportive community of individuals sharing space, energy and breathe together. The heat isn’t as scary as I thought and practicing regularly in a safe space has allowed me to settle my mind, teach me how to actually breathe, build balance, and strength. I am a middle aged woman that carries extra groceries around my body, but I am on the path of building strength, confidence, and appreciation of what my body can do today whatever that is and to be grateful for it, besides who knows maybe I will be able to do a flying raven one day and if I don’t that is okay because really the biggest accomplishment is putting that negative voice away and arriving on my mat to practice.

Thank you to the Hotness Community for making the studio feel safe and welcoming for all.

Anonymous