survival of the fittest

I love yoga!

There, I've said it. What's interesting to me is that I'm not that good at it (I'm not very flexible, can't stand on my head and I have a really hard time breathing through moves sometimes). Normally I don't stick to practicing things I'm not good at (like guitar). But I've been practicing yoga for the past six years. Granted I have had hiatuses (some brief, some extended) but for the most part yoga has been one of the few consistent things in my life for awhile.

On to the survival part ... When I get extremely busy (like this year of full-time teaching and diss writing), my workouts tend to fall off and after slipping into a depression that was even scary to me, I've recommitted myself to the gym at least 3X a week for yoga and/or cardio. The diss will be here when I return, and guess what, I might actually be able to work on it!

So far after the past 3 or 4 weeks of sticking to my commitment, I feel almost back to myself again. It really is amazing what giving your body some of the time it deserves can do. In the past, I've stuck with the gym because, face it, I'm too fabulous to get fat (don't get mad all you fatabulous girls out there, okay Mo'Nique). It's a personal preference. I just ain't ready to surrender to Lane Bryant no matter how cute the clothes are. But these days, I'm more concerned with the mental and emotional benefits of working out. It might sound corny and new-agey but doing yoga has helped me cope with grad school, deaths and countless other emotionally taxing dilemmas I've been through on the journey to sistadoctahood. There's no reason it won't get me through this last hoop. I may even be able to stand on my head when it's all over!