A Little Pep Talk Just for YOU
How many flexible people do you know? Let’s be honest here—you don’t actually KNOW anyone who is flexible. If yoga required flexibility, then 15 million people in America wouldn’t have been practicing last year. But, they did.
How many thin people do you know? If yoga required you to look fabulous in stretch pants, then 15 million people in America wouldn’t have been practicing last year. But, despite the fact that two-thirds of Americans are overweight, they did. And, by the way, I bet you look awesome just as you are.
Don’t think you have enough money for yoga? Yes, studying yoga and meditation is an investment. But, in 2010 the cost of heart disease in the United States was $444 BILLION DOLLARS (source). This is a no brainer. Invest now in practices that immediately improve the quality of your life at a fraction of the cost that chronic illness and disease imposes on your life later.
Stop making excuses. Making an investment in yoga and meditation will bring you greater returns through your lifetime than almost any other class, exercise or weight loss program or activity. The benefits of yoga are 100% proven and have stood the test of time. You aren’t going to get any more flexible sitting here at your computer. Maybe you aren’t flexible and you have a few extra pounds you carry around with you. You and everyone else. Buy a mat, put on your stretch pants and show up for class.
If you are breathing, you can do it. No matter your age, physical fitness, education, size, weight, flexibility, health status—-you can do this. Yoga and meditation are just words for a variety of simple techniques for using what you arrived here on earth with–your body and your breath—to bring you relief from tension, stress and fear. The tools of yoga are free, but you must use them to receive the benefit.
Yes, you need your own mat. Yes, you need your own meditation cushion. No, you don’t need to buy $140 yoga pants. A quality mat that is made out of non-toxic materials is going to cost you about half of what a new pair of sneakers cost. If you care for it well, then it might last you 10-years. Your meditation cushion is a lifetime investment. Mostly, you just need your body and your breath—free. Don’t get tripped up by all the commercialism around yoga and the advertisements that would lead you to believe that all yoga practitioners are 16-year old former acrobats. Real people, with real bodies and real budgets do yoga all over the world every single day. And, if you happen to be a 16-year old former acrobat, great—yoga is for you too!