I was so worried that I was going to look stupid and embarrassed by how little strength I had that I was missing the whole point.

After four years of college and a traumatizing search for a bathing suit last summer, I realized that I had let myself go. The drinking and Pizza Shuttle stops around bar time had caught up with me.

This isn’t a fun thing to admit, and here I am telling all of you, but the hardest part was admitting it to myself.

So I decided to embark on my “New and Improved Victoria” plan. While it’s been off to a slow start, I’ve been trying to make a more conscious effort to eat better, drink less and move more.

As part of my new plan, I decided to take a yoga class. I figured it was time to start taking advantage of the Sports and Recreation Department here on campus — they offer these fun classes and I might as well take one.

I wanted to take yoga because I had heard so many good things about it; not only would I be working on strengthening my body, but I felt that it would also be beneficial to me mentally.

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. As I had given up on regular exercise to hang out in the Gasthaus, my body was seriously lacking in any sort of physical fitness. My best friend Dani, who works out avidly and who has been a major supporter of my New and Improved Victoria plan, lent me her yoga mat and sent me on my way. What she didn’t tell me is that yoga is hard.

Yoga is thousands of years old. According to abc-of-yoga.com, yoga began when ancient yogis found a way to create balance between physical health and breathing and meditation techniques to ensure a peaceful mind. Yoga has become more and more popular. It achieves to “attain unity of the mind, body and spirit.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect as I walked across the street and into the church where the class was being held. Not going to lie to you, I was a bit nervous.

I felt old and fat once I was in the room among freshmen girls who obviously haven’t had their college lifestyle catch up to them yet. They were able to move effortlessly, as if the postures were putting no strain whatsoever on their bodies, while I was trying to hide in the back row and hoping no one noticed that I was breaking into a sweat.

Until one girl and I made eye contact and I could tell that she was struggling too. We smiled at each other’s pain and I felt comforted.

I was so worried that I was going to look stupid and embarrassed by how little strength I had that I was missing the whole point. I was in that room to start feeling better about myself. I had to hang up all of my insecurities and just go for it.

Sure, I’m a little shaky and some of the postures make me wonder why I decided to put myself through this agony, but as I roll up my borrowed mat at the end of class and my head feels clear and my body feels a little stronger, I realize that I walk out a little more new and improved.

> Comments