"Listen to Your Body"

Recently I've taken up yoga and soon thereafter took a severe liking to the entire concept of it. I took yoga back in high school but that was a one time deal and didn't start again until about seven months ago. I immediately pictured myself become a hippie yoga-girl, smelling of incense and being constantly aware of my breathing deeply and properly. During the rough months of this past winter yoga kept me going, kept me alive and warm. Going twice a week, by myself, while the instructor played some of my favorite songs by my favorite artists- I nearly lost it when she started one class with "American Baby Intro", one of my faves- really gave me a chance to focus on me and only me. That sounds like a rude, selfish thing to say, but when much of my energy was exerted on making other people happy, it was time to focus on myself. Yoga allowed me to clear my mind for at least the time being, it allowed me to put down my cell phone, lay still, and treat my body well. The instructor always used to say, "listen to your body, if it's telling you not to do something, don't do it." I used to wonder, how can I listen to my body? Is she just talking about pain? If something is painful does that mean stop, or should I be seriously listening to my body?

Yoga last winter came to an end, and it made me a healthier person- mentally and physically. It was just what I needed at the time. After moving home shortly after the class ended, I knew it was something I wanted to keep up. I signed up for another class that I am in now, fully intending on it only being a handful of other people and knowing they would be quite a bit older than me. This class meets only once a week but for a longer session, and again allows me to relax, meditate, and work my body in ways that it has never been worked before. The instructor seems sweet- short, older, mobile, and a head of spiked hair. She can move and flex in ways that I did not know were humanly possible, and if she thinks I will be able to move in those ways by the end of our ten sessions together, she will soon be fooled. Tonight she spoke to us and said, "Listen to your body. If it's telling you not to do something, don't do it." A few moments later when she had us lower our hips into a true split, I listened, with a slight concern. Am I a quitter? Should I try to go lower? Am I listening to my body or am I giving up? I thought yoga was supposed to be easy on my mind and clear all manic thoughts rushing around my brain. But at what point do you stop? At what point is enough enough? How will I learn to know the difference? It was the only thing I "didn't allow my body to do" tonight. I did my backward rolls, my downward dog, plank, warrior, and many others. I felt good. I tried my best. But I wondered when I would get a second chance, and when I would hear my body tell me yes.