A Celebration.....of two kinds

I am in the process of celebrating almost a year and a half of very consistent Yoga practice.

It has been a great integration into my fitness regimen and into the solace that we all seek in our often hurried lives.

I also enjoy those hours of someone teaching me, instead me being the teacher. It's good for everyone to be a student from time to time. It keeps us open to change and to being guided.

Too often we tend to be the organizer, the planner and the leader. Good to let that go. Be the humble learner instead of the guru.

So I mark this anniversary, this celebration, on my blog today.

Aside from my job as a fitness educator is my job of analyzing bodies in motion. It's a lot of fun and I never seem to tire of it. It's almost a pastime when I am in a public place.

So it was today, while waiting for Yoga class to begin, that I spent some time viewing the various body types and how they move around the gym.

Whether it be someone walking from machine to machine, using machine after machine or immersed in cardio I am intrigued with observing.

After 30 years in the fitness industry, I will say that what remains one of the more challenging ideologies to convince clients of is that we genetically are all built differently and are predisposed to certain postures, strengths and weaknesses. This is simply controlled by who we were born of.

It is not that we cannot combat some of them by strengthening and stretching. Oh, and not to mention nutrition. But to hold oneself up to some ideal of someone seen in a magazine or an elite athlete.....well, it is simply an injustice to oneself.

Today I saw, the extremely lean over 50 runner, who looked quite uncomfortable moving about the gym after removing himself from the treadmill. While lean, he looked very inflexible and had a stiff gait.

There was the woman with a bit higher BMI who was trying out her first Yoga class. She was flexible and seemed to have very good body awareness.

Then, using an arm curl machine, an over 70 gentleman, who had the appearance of a former football player, keeping up his strength work with great determination and intensity.

It is always my hope that people will aspire to be the best they can be, working within the genetic framework given to them - not aspire to be anything but themself.

You know, to celebrate oneself. Strive to be the best you can be. That's all you can ask for. that's all you can expect from yourself.

Make peace with that and it IS a cause for celebration.