Yoga and regular movement is changing my life.
When I was in my early teens I ran. A lot. I ran and ran. I ran miles when I got home from school. I ran in the dry, I ran in the rain, I ran in the snow. I kind of hated it .. and halfway through the hour or so that I ran .. I LOVED it.
I was also, in my head, training for the next Olympics. Yep me, a lanky 13-year-old in the Norfolk countryside.
And I did ballet. From age 4 - 16. A LOT of ballet.
I loved trampolining, netball, racing around outdoors with my sisters, horse riding. As WELL as being the total 100% bookworm.
I was a skinny, tall, lanky kid ... and then around 14-15 I developed.
NOT HAPPY.
No more Royal Ballet School.
Hello sports bra.
And then I started going out and more into music and travel and writing and studying ... and I went to Uni in London in the year of the new summer of love :)
Partying, playing, experimenting, learning, being.
I never found my love of movement again.
I joined gyms, went through phases. Bought the kit - for a new hobby of sailing, or riding, or whatever.
Planned to BE THAT PERSON.
But I just wasn't.
You know, I think it also has a lot to do with weight.
It's HARD to move - let alone feel confident - when you're overweight. If you struggle to breathe when you bend over to put on a shoe ... well ...
And lugging an extra 10, 20, 30, 40 pounds along with you?
It's HARD WORK.
I increased my walking a lot last year. I started scooting home and sometimes walking the hour home from work.
And now something's shifted.
I now LOVE and WANT to move every day.
I feel my body was MADE to move.
I walk home, I swim, I walk the dog, I do 30-minute wonderful online sessions of yoga.
The yoga in particular is changing my life.
The moving everyday - and more importantly - the LOVING and WANTING to move every day .. is changing my life.
And my core muscles, and my balance and my strength ... and my peace.
Don't give up.
I'm 47 years old and I only just found how it works for me.
Don't give up.
Try things, go easy on yourself, lose some weight first, whatever works for you.
But I honestly NEVER thought I would find my love of exercise and movement again.
35 years later ... I have.
Keep going, keep trying things.
It's SO worth it to feel at one with your body again.
