Keep Calm and do Yoga

 
When I saw the words on the door of our yoga studio in Tirisula Yoga, I smiled.  Every weekend I see it I take comfort in the reminder that no matter what the hectic week throws at me I have a weekend of yoga waiting for me, to calm me and help me find my center again.
Last month when work took a nosedive from confusion to madness, I could feel myself losing it.  I decided to print the exact words and pasted it on my cubicle as a reminder that no matter what happened, I should keep calm and take comfort that I have a weekend of yoga to look forward to!  Next to it, I pasted a picture of someone doing a headstand.
Having those words in my cubicle, I was inspired to do yoga during lunch!  In the same last month, I have found myself in any available meeting room that I could get my hands on doing many minutes of headstands or other poses during lunch.  On days that I could not find a room, I just sat at my desk and practiced my pranayama when (I thought) no one was around though this was rather difficult as somehow Kapala Bathi and Bastrika seemed to attract the attention of colleagues even from the farthest end of the room.  On one occasion I had a colleague running over to my desk thinking that I was suffering a fit attack!  Hilarious!  But, it was nice to note that I have such caring colleagues.  I have since stopped practicing my pranayama in the office.  It is funny how just 20 minutes of yoga during lunch helped me find my center during these mad days.  I found myself to be less stressed for the rest of the day, definitely more calm and able to make better decisions.  I believe the ‘lunch-time yoga escapades’ held me together during these rough weeks.
To think that I found yoga rather by accident on the prodding of an ex-colleague who wanted me to accompany her to a free trial session at a gym about a year ago.  It was either Zumba or Yoga, and having two left feet, the answer was rather obvious.  Also, Yoga ‘looked’ easy enough to me back then, so I thought I should be able to survive one lesson right? Wrong!  It was tough.. and to think that I thought I was fit because I was a runner.  Not being able to last through my first yoga lesson of stretching, holding poses and backbending really set me thinking that I should challenge myself by taking it up.  I never looked back since then and there has never been a second of regret.. oh well okay, maybe some split seconds when I’m doing backbends or when I tumble every time I try to get into a handstand and so on *smile*
Yoga has really changed my life.  I am now more grounded and better able to manage my emotions.  I’m glad I found it.  Hmm.. maybe I should switch around the words on my cubicle from “Keep Calm and do Yoga” to “Do Yoga and Keep Calm”.
Namaste!
 
Natalie Lim
200 hrs YTTC (July-October)