Practicing yoga is like falling in love.
You're excited, eager, and nervous.
There's risk and uncertainty.
You may hesitate, which often times hurts more.
You contort your body as your heartbeat quickens and your temperature rises.
Some of the most sensual feelings happen on the mat.
And if you're devoted, if your yoga practice is a life practice, then you may experience absolute bliss.
Some of us are lucky enough to say we've been in love once or twice. Others fall in love every day. Many love without knowing the depths of what it really means -- a love that comes from a more powerful source than just finding a compatible partner.
If you are receptive to it, practicing yoga can take you on a journey to the depths of your fears. Yoga will rip open your heart and make you watch the pain replay and the wounding resurface. It doesn't let you hide any more. And just like love, it rubs your nose in every single issue you've wanted to stow under the bed. But yoga creates a space within your body waiting to be filled with wisdom and strength, a secure connection to faith, the kind of love that doesn't happen in storybooks and movies.
How, you ask?
It's magic.
What class should I take for this to happen?
Any and all. The type of yoga doesn't matter as long as your instructor has a sensitivity to the fundamental purpose of the practice. That it is not intended simply for exercise. Wear comfortable clothes, take a water bottle, and get on a mat. Move your body and wring out toxins and breathe. Breathe as deeply as you can to feed your muscles and your blood. And don't force it. Just let the magic happen.
If you struggle and shake and twitch and have to release out of a pose before your neighbor, and feel insecure because everyone else seems to do half moon perfectly and you can't keep your balance, and if you doubt yourself and doubt why you ever took the class, and if you hate it and then absolutely despise it, take a deeper breath. Rest. Maybe in a child's pose... or just lie down. If you're in a real yoga class, no one will judge you.
While you're here, humbled and vulnerable, consider this: When else have you wanted to stop because it's too much? When have you felt so insecure and scared? So raw?
When you're falling in love.
But this time around, it's not with anyone other than Your Self.
Loosen your grip... Go ahead... Let go.