what are you waiting for?

A few weeks ago, at a health fair in Crown Heights, I nearly lost my voice talking to community members about yoga.

It’s great for you! It helps alleviate stress! Yoga helps strengthen and stretch your whole body!

I happily talked to a lot of people who were excited to try yoga for the first time or return to practice after some time away. I talked to a few people who were not at all interested in yoga (“you guys have like, bootcamp, right?”). And then I talked to a handful of women who all gave me the same response:

“I’ll come to yoga once I lose a few pounds.”

No. No no no no no no no.

This broke my heart and made me want to leap across our booth. It made me want to grab each woman by the shoulders and put my forehead on hers.

Here is what I wanted to say:

You are perfect.

Your body is inherently full of strength and grace.

I believe in you. I believe that you will move beautifully, and that you will be beautifully moved. I believe you will be shocked by what your body knows already. I believe you know things in your bones.

I believe you are beautiful, exactly as you are now. I believe yoga will make you feel more beautiful, without ever knowing the numbers on the scale and how they might be changing or unchanging.

We start where we are. We start somewhere and see where yoga will take us.

Stop waiting. Stop waiting for your life to take shape and shape it yourself.

Live your life on purpose.

Yesterday, a friend asked me how to maintain the self-discipline to practice. I didn’t quite know what to tell him, because I have a hard time with home practice myself.

So instead of answering him right away, I rid myself of excuses and grabbed my roommate’s cheapie mat. I moved the coffee table into the hallway and shut my cat into my bedroom.

Once I begin to practice, I remember where yoga has taken me. As a friend of mine likes to say, yoga is a vessel through which we change ourselves. Through the work I have done in yoga – mentally, spiritually, and yes, physically – I have found acceptance and even gratitude for my body.

The numbers on the scale are unneccesary. Your level of flexibility is unneccesary. The brand of workout wear is unneccesary. Even a real space to practice is practically unneccesary.