07/15/2026
Yoga, for me, has never been about fitness. Ever. One of the many byproducts is, of course, physical health and the body. With time and consistency the body, may in fact reflect that on the outside. It’s what we learn of ourselves within that has always spoken to me. More importantly, it’s where we can discover what we’re truly capable of.
The past few months of my life have been nothing short of incredibly fu***ng hard. My physical body has been temporarily out of service, taking away my physical yoga practice, my fitness, my work, my social life and it seems new tests seems to arrive daily. In the past nine days I’ve fallen TWICE on my surgically repaired knee, setting back any and all progress. I’m breaking down with equal consistency. I feel more alone and more vulnerable than maybe ever in my life.
This why yoga, for me, is not about the physical. Yoga is union: mind, body, spirit. A harmonious alignment of them all. Which is exactly what I’m being forced to confront. My mind’s a mess, I’ve lost my body, I’m gaining weight, getting older, single AF, and the universe is putting me through it.
Every lesson learned on the mat is transferable to real life. Every single one. How we do one thing is how we do all things. When do I quit? What am I running from or avoiding? Have I lost focus? What am I actually feeling? Where is my breath? How am I treating myself? Am I listening/being honest? There are so many more q’s, but for a moment, apply these same ones to your relationships, jobs, actual fitness classes and life. EVERYTHING can come back to what we learn from yoga. It’s not so much about keeping your toes forward in a lunge that’s the lesson, it’s noticing. It’s sitting deeper in the same lunge, not because it was cued, because you wanted to know you could. That’s what a yoga practice is really about: knowing yourself.
Short story long, I’m so grateful for yoga. The universe is making me hold the longest mental pose I’ve ever been in and it’s forcing me to listen, relearn, and realign. I must endure and go deeper. I will grow from this. I am in control. It’s all happening for a reason. This too shall pass.
The lessons we learn on the yoga mat
