Last week, I experienced such a huge personal victory that I can’t even believe I forgot to mention it.

Dave and I have been going to the gym for a few months now. Ya know, trying to get in shape and all. I’m far from in shape, even though my parents are health nut, personal trainers. We’d been going to the gym and average of 3x a week, just doing cardio and some light weight training. One night, as we were checking in, I happened to look at the class schedule and noticed that yoga was starting in 10 minutes. I jumped the gun and decided I would give it a shot.

I had really no clue what was going through my head. I had never taken a yoga class in my whole life. The only thing I knew about it was that Madonna did it and she could turn herself into a pretzel. But I’m half of Madonna’s age, so surely I could do this!  I walked into the class, took off my socks and shoes and grabbed a mat. And 10 minutes later I began the most difficult work out of my life.

Yoga is no walk in the park, and that first night was not a beginners class. The instructor had us walking our legs up the wall and was demonstrating poses I didn’t think a human body could get into. My shoulders were sore, my legs were shaking, but it felt great at the same time. It wasn’t like running on a treadmill or doing 45 minutes on the elipitical. It was the huge challenge that I was looking for.

The classes were Monday and Wednesday nights at 7:45 and I decided after that first class that I would continue to go on a regular basis. I asked for yoga gear for Christmas and received some yoga pants and mats. I felt like I was improving slightly each class. My balance was definitely getting better and I could do most of the poses fairly well.

Last week, at the end of class, I was packing up my mats and putting my shoes back on when my yoga instructor came up to me. She said she noticed that I was coming a lot and wanted to say that she could really see an improvement.

!!!

I’ve never considered myself exceptionally good at anything, especially when it came to fitness, so hearing this was exactly what I needed. Ever since then, I’ve been trying even harder to improve. I’ve never been more excited to go work out. This is coming from a person who sits at the computer for hours playing The Sims 3.

Sometimes, it’s just those simple acknowledgements that get your butt into gear…not that I was thinking of quitting or anything, but now I’m more motivated than ever to continue and get really good at this. I doubt you’ll read this Heidi, but thanks for all that you have done!

Tags: fitness, motivation, yoga