I’m really getting into this yoga thing.
Yesterday I got out of my comfort zone and went to ‘B YONCE Flow Yoga’ which was a donation-based community event at my new favorite yoga studio, Bare Feet Power Yoga. Basically, Beyonce’s hits blared while we did Vinyasa yoga and we laughed a lot and got plenty sweaty and it was my favorite yoga class ever.
Then I stayed at the studio and did a Power Yoga Basics class, which may have been a small mistake because I was pretty sore and tired and basically a mess. However, I got through it and that’s all that matters! Plus, I felt strong and great and exhausted afterwards – which is always the sign of a successful (exercise) day, right?!
Well, one thing I got out of the class, other than tired muscles and a lot of great energy, was a saying the instructor said, which really stuck with me, As the room got hotter and hotter (the studio heats all classes to 90 degrees), Hillary, who taught the Power Yoga Basics class, told us that we could choose to be hot and miserable, or just hot.
She’s instructed yoga classes I’ve been in before and used the same idea for the never-ending winter cold weather in Chicago – she told us that we could all choose to be cold and miserable, or just cold.
I think that’s a good question to ask ourselves (especially on a Monday): are we going to be miserable in our present circumstances, or just in them?
I can’t always choose my circumstances, but I can (generally) choose my attitude in them.
* Of course, I’m not referring to the ‘bigger’ life crap that we all go through in different seasons in our life. I strongly dislike it when people tell me that I shouldn’t be feeling something or that I should be happy regardless of what I’m going through or that my feelings are somehow wrong. If you’re truly struggling, you’re allowed to be sad/upset/unhappy/etc until you get through whatever challenge you’re working through. However, we can definitely control our attitude in terms of the day-to-day life stuff that happens, and today I’m choosing joy over misery.
Happy Monday!
