Ah, yoga.

For many people, yoga brings to mind women in very tight, stretchy pants contorting their bodies into shapes that weren't thought to be possible. And while at a higher level that may be true (the contorting, not the pants- stop stereotyping!) it doesn't necessarily mean that's all yoga has to offer. Just because you can't touch your forehead to your shins doesn't mean you too can't be a yogi!

So I decided to prove this once and for all. Being a runner with very tight muscles, I cannot touch my head to my shins or pull my leg up behind me to look like this:

But it doesn't mean I can't work towards it!

My practice started only a few (4!) days ago, and I'm using the pretty well known youtube channel "Yoga With Adriene" which I suggest for all newcomers to the body contorting practice. Adriene keeps and nice and slow and is super encouraging! If you wanna know her true powers, you can look to my boyfriend who previously couldn't touch his toes. After about two weeks of doing the "30 Day Yoga Challenge" with Adriene, he would touching them like a young, flexible gymnast!

The best part about yoga is that it's not focused exclusively on increasing your flexibility (which is an added bonus). What it really wants for you is to assist you in connecting with your body. Something people don't realize is how powerful your breathe is. Recently, I have become very devoted to changing the way I breathe and I believe all people should take a moment and really pay attention to their breathing. Are you getting a nice, full breathe? Are you breathing into your whole lung? or just the top? If you're not sure, yoga might be that much better of a choice for you. It puts your mind at ease so that you can turn your lens in and really examine yourself as a whole, breathing and all.

So I leave you with this: give yoga a try, it will never hurt you to try. And if it's not for you, that's perfectly OK.