Taken literally, the word namaste means “I bow to you”. In yoga, namaste is said to mean “The light within me honors the light within you,” and is used as a salutation spoken by both the yoga instructor and yoga students.

I’ve been practicing yoga (practicing is a nice way of saying I’m really not all that good but I try) for a little over a year. In the off season I’ll practice two to three times a week. During the season I make every attempt to attend one class per week. As the training weeks progress and the durations increase, keeping the weekly goal is challenging. I’ve incorporated several yoga positions (called asanas) into my daily stretching routines, some of my favorites daily stretches are; cat-cow, downward facing dog, pigeon pose, standing forward bend, and lizard pose.

Honestly I never thought that I’d ever be practicing yoga. I was encouraged to try it by one of the studio cycle instructors at Lifetime Fitness (Sarah L). When I walked into my first class, I thought to myself, ok Sarah, I’ll give you six weeks. I was completely intimidated after my first class, I was one of two men in the class (over the last year or so I’ve learned that fitness classes at Lifetime are comprised of 90% women, except for studio cycle where the mix is more like 60/40) and I felt completely out of my element. I was about as flexible as a piece of peanut brittle, had absolutely no clue what any of the poses were or how they should be done, and was pretty sure that this yoga thing wasn’t going to be for me. But I committed to six-weeks so I was determined to stick it out. And I’m so glad I did, my flexibility has improved well beyond any of my expectations, along with core and upper body strength. Yoga can be quite the workout, it is completely up to you, you are in control, the instructor is their as a guide and a mentor.

Every instructor teaches differently; I feel extremely lucky to have had some excellent instructors over the past year. I enjoy the different approaches each brings but one thing they have all had in common is a genuine passion for their practices and the ability to encourage and challenge their students. For this I thank them and am grateful. Yoga is now part of my daily fitness routine and is becoming an integral part of who I am. I know yoga will play an important role in my overall fitness, be it swimming, running, cycling, or just daily life activities, and will help prevent injuries common to endurance sport training.

In class when we do tree pose the instructor commonly says “and you can be any kind of tree you would like” well, I think I’d like to be the tree in the photo above, a strong and sturdy tree, growing up out of the rocky soil, right on the edge of life. Defying gravity, in a way, I overlook the world around me, surrounded by such amazing beauty.

So with that I say to you… namaste …