Hobby #2--Yoga

Another hobby that I spend some time on is yoga. I was first introduced to it by my sweet friend, Patricia, four or five years ago when we lived in Cincinnati. She did a class on it for homemaking meeting at church once and shattered some of my preconceptions that it was a weird Eastern religion thing with chanting and all that. (Originally I'm sure it was just that, but Westerners have adapted it and many practice the physical aspects--Hatha yoga--simply as a form of exercise.) My interest was piqued, but when I checked out some classes they were more than our student budget could handle, so I didn't pursue it.

Then last spring my friend Stacie, a sister in our current ward, needed to do ten hours of volunteer yoga instruction to get her certification to teach it at a local health club. She offered to do a beginning yoga class twice a week as an Enrichment Activity. I jumped at the chance and I've really enjoyed it. She's kept going long beyond her ten hours, which has been a great service. In return, we've been lucky enough to be her guinea pigs as she's learned new things and practiced them on us before teaching them at the gym. In addition to yoga we've done some Tai Chi and some Pilates, but I still like yoga the best. I've tried to figure out how to describe what kind of yoga she teaches. She often calls it "yoga-flow," but as near as I can tell it is equivalent to Power Yoga and is encompassed by vinyasa yoga and Ashtanga yoga, which are more general terms. I enjoy the sun salutations and balance poses most, and I struggle most with the warrior poses.

I still need to find a way to work some cardiovascular activities into my life, but yoga has been great for flexibility, strength, relaxation and stress relief. I did it all through my pregnancy with Dallin, and although there were a few positions I couldn't do as I got bigger, I really believe it made for an easier pregnancy this time around. I also think one of the keys to aging gracefully, besides a good attitude, is staying active. My Grandpa Seegmiller started doing yoga several years ago and still does today as an 86-year-old. I hope I'm still doing it when I'm 86 too!