"Its not a journey, its stretching!"

Of all the new things I experienced in my freshman year of college, yoga was one of my least favorite things. Because it was very popular at my "liberal hippie" Evergreen State College, I gave it a shot. Even in the first few days of living on campus, I found myself in spontaneous yoga circles on the field with my new roommates and several other self proclaimed yogis. The first time I was there on accident. My short haired spunky housemate Christina from Denver convinced me to come with, "Hey Rachel, a bunch of us are going to stretch on the field later. Wanna come?" It wasnt that I didnt want to be the dull roommate who stays inside all day, no. I just thought they were going to stretch. Yoga was the last thing on my mind, considering my past exposure to the activity was nothing more than a few simple poses on Wii Fit.

I went to that first circle and found myself quite literally surrounded with people who could name and perfectly execute dozens of poses. I found myself lost among this stretch that would "open up your chest to promote intentional breathing" and that pose which would "align your spine and energies simultaneously." I kept my mouth and my mind shut to such things. All I wanted was a good workout, not some eastern practices that wanted something to do with my chi. (Whatever that was.)

After that day, I stuck to what I knew. When I went to the gym on campus, I went to the pool, the weightroom, or hit the elliptical. I was perfectly content for a while, until it happened again. "Hey Rachel, me and Christina are gonna go to yoga at the gym. Wanna come with us?" This time it was Wisconsinite Elsa, who'd become more of a friend than a roommate. I couldn't say no this time, even though I half wanted to. They had daily yoga classes at the gym; free ones at that, so I really couldn't decline the offer. So I went. I went sporadically over the next few months too, each time ignoring the eastern philosophical aspect and looking at it strictly in the realm of physical fitness. I never got much from those free lessons, but the instructor's breezy words would often get stuck in my head afterward:

"This is your own yoga journey. Don't make it be something. Just let it be."

I think of that a lot now, especially as I've been trying to learn new poses lately. I dont know why I tried picking it up again, but I've fallen into yoga in the last couple weeks for no apparent rhyme or reason. I even bought a book on it, and have found myself doing a few poses before bed the last few nights. I still dont know about the spiritual side of it, but I have learned that yoga does take soul. Especially in meditative positions, I notice that when I close my eyes I am alone, just me. It is a very soulful thing, the practice of yoga is; especially when not forced.