The One About Yoga

Get it? Because it's a reference to Friends. Making me the most basic woman alive.
Watches friends
Does yoga
Drinks herbal tea
Talks about "Kon Marie" stuff
Has fancy pens and tape

I'm just not gonna call myself wifey. You can't make me do it. I am a wife. Not a wifey.

Unless you wanna tease me, but watch yourself, because I can bite back.

Ok perhaps the most common questions I get are...

"How are you?"
"What's your name?" (with work...)
"How old are you?" (also with work. Not rude if it's cute lil Chinese babies asking you for your age.)
"What's for dinner?"
"Mmmm?" (How lil lion says "more")
and....

"How did you get started with yoga?"

I bring all of those on, they're invited, I provoke them.... so I thought I'd answer them all in one blow today.

- Pretty good.
- Lara Jean Becar, yo.
- 25 and LIVING LARGE (said in the coolest way possible. Difficult for me to achieve.)
- SHOOT it's falafel and I need to get started on it.
- No


And...

How did I get started with yoga.

Ok we'll start at the very beginning, the place that I always start.

About a year and a half ago I was in a bad place, not loving my image, not wanting to go running because in AZ that's a tall order, and I needed something to DO. I went to my bff, Melece, cried some, and she suggested yoga as a kinda fun thing to do. I lol'd a bit, because when people suggest yoga, they're usually not serious, and I don't think Melece intended me to take it the way I did either. But she held me accountable, I rolled my eyes some, but I was willing to try it.

And I didn't stop.

Ok but where did I start. I knew Melece used an app, but it was one that I had to purchase and on principle I don't buy apps. Yet. (That yet will be elaborated on.) I did find a free app, Down Dog. I downloaded it but started with YouTube, asking for advice from people on their favorite videos. Everyone, without fail, suggested Yoga With Adriene . As do I. She was the second person to get me going with yoga. When you're starting an exercise routine, if you're like me, you don't like to be coddled into it with sweet, airy voices and phrases like "chakra" and hocus pocus like that. I'm kinda a straight to the point person. Give it to me how it is. Tell me what I'm doing.

And that's what Yoga With Adriene did. There wasn't a lot of hippy-dippy nonsense to it, and she had a sense of humor. I really appreciated that. After learning the basics, I went to the Down Dog app. Where I am now, I LOVE DOWN DOG. It's an incredible app. Crazy fun. But I'd be lying if I said it was easy. That is some hard crap there. Even on the beginning level, it wiped me out. I decided I couldn't stick with it. It was damaging my drive to do yoga, so I went back to Yoga with Adriene. I stuck with her for a year or so, before I felt like I was falling into the same routine and wanted to try some new things. Now I'm on the Down Dog App again, sometimes I do my own routines too, and I love this app. It actually may be an app that I buy, I love it that much. Yoga is making me an app buying person.

Ok that's my start.

Now for the good stuff, my tips on how YOU can start.

• Love it. It's not really that complicated. The first thing you gotta do to enjoy yoga is to ENJOY yoga. If you're not enjoying it, then maybe it's not for you, and that's ok. I was really beating myself for not loving running for a long time. I'd do it over and over and over and I never loved it. I'm of the strong belief that exercise is not meant to be endured, but enjoyed. Find something you enjoy. Maybe it's yoga. Maybe it's weights. Maybe it's running. But love it. Now, if you WANT to love yoga and you're having a hard time with it, keep reading!
  
• Listen. This may sound like hippy dippy nonsense but it isn't. When you start out with yoga, I think it's really important not to kill yourself quickly. A favorite quote of mine is "If you listen to your body whisper, you don't have to let it scream." The key isn't to push your limits. It's to find your limit, sit there for a while until it's a little more bearable, and then try again the next day. Your limit will grow. It's not a sprint though. It's a marathon. Pace yourself. Don't throw yourself into crazy vinyasa sequences before you're ready. Listen to your body. Notice the way your arms feel in down dog. Notice how your hips feel in warrior two. Notice your breathing in a chaturanga. Listen to the small things. It's kind of fascinating.
  
• Prioritize it. Put on a cartoon for your kids. Turn off your phone (or not, if you're using it for your practice...) but make it important to you. It's not about the exercise being important. If that were the case, then you could go to the gym. But this is about you. About connecting your mind to your body to your breath. Having a little conversation with yourself, seeing how you're doing, seeing what's stressful, seeing if you can put aside the stress for a mere 30 minutes to be still. It's so important to be still. If you don't have a lot of time, cut out 20 min in the morning when you wake up. That's what my Joe does. If you have a lot of time but a lot of distractions, be patient. It's ok to stop after 10 min and put the binky back in your baby's mouth. It's ok to pause after 23 min and drink some water. It's ok if an hour practice take 2 hrs because your mom called or you had an important email to answer. In an ideal world, you can carve out all that time just for yourself. But it's ok if you're not in an ideal world.
  
• Create your world. Find a place you love. I've found that I love natural light and plants. It must be swept and clean. This helps me to focus on it. In addition to that, find a program you like! My Melece doesn't like Yoga with Adriene very much. And that's ok. It's not for everyone. Try out different things! Not all instructors are the same. AND you DON'T have to go to a class. Confession, I've never once been to a class. I'm entirely "self" taught, with youtube, apps, reading up on stuff, and lots of practice. I believe the best yoga is done on your own when you're not worried about how you look. Because it doesn't matter how you look. My Fallen Angel pose up there looks horribly crooked and comical most of the time. It's fun to laugh about, and I don't care that I don't look perfect because I'm alone. 

It's crazy. To not care about looking perfect. There's not a lot of time in my life where I feel like that. 

Now if you're sitting here saying I WANT to, but I can't....

Here are some things.

1. You don't have to be strong. I'm not strong. It's hilarious how little muscles I have. I'm VERY unsculpted. I've got a blobby post baby body.
2. You don't have to be flexible. Joe is NOT flexible. Despite his time in gymnastics as a youth, he couldn't touch his knees for a while. But he's growing. 
3. You don't have to be a hippy. Heaven knows I'm not. Or wasn't... I still drink soda after many of my practices, and take ibruprofin for headaches like it's going out of style. I enjoy the thought of working in corporate America sometimes. (Hippies hate that, right?)
4. To reiterate, you don't have to look like a catalog. My first down dog was painful and awkward. Painfully awkward, even. But I listened and focused on areas for improvement. 
5. You don't have to become a yogi. You can just do it for fun. And run still. Or lift weights. Or watch Netflix. 

This IS your world. 

But know this also.

This is where it gets hippy and emotional. Sorry guys.

Your body has power you can't even comprehend. You'll be amazed at the way the energy bursts from every limb when you do your first arm balance pose. You'll be surprised at how quickly you're able to advance through things when you unlock your confidence and true inner strength. You'll learn about new muscles. You'll feel the blood pump through you in a way unlike anything else. You'll feel your mind relax and sharpen, somehow simultaneously. It is an incredible high. When you finally get it, when it finally clicks, you can take on the world. You can. 

Take it on with me.