One New Year’s Eve a friend and I decide to skip the parties and take part in a midnight yoga class. We’re in a room packed mat to mat with...
One New Year’s Eve a friend and I decide to skip the parties and take part in a midnight yoga class. We’re in a room packed mat to mat with people with the same idea, clad in multicoloured Lycra. The lights are dim, and for an hour and a half we contort ourselves, gently, into a variety of poses. It’s a cold night in San Francisco, but inside, even without any heat, the air temperature warms up amid so many bodies in motion.
As our muscles shake through a long, painful stretch, one of our yoga instructors reminds us that our minds are wonderful at getting work done and sorting out problems, but when we can’t shut them off, they can become our prisons. By tuning into the feelings of our bodies, including embracing this pain, we can live in the present moment, outside of those racing thoughts.
