Yoga When Ready

People, in general, do not like being told what to do. “Oh, you’ve got to quit smoking”; “Hey, dude, don’t forget to put the toilet seat down”; “Stop biting your nails”; “Signal before you change lanes”…and the list goes on and on.  I try not to give unsolicited advice to anyone, but when someone starts complaining about aches and pains, I can’t help but to say, “Do yoga”.

After all, I’m blogging here on YogaHub, so why wouldn’t I talk about yoga’s health benefits whenever someone says that their back hurts or they have a crick in their necks? I feel like grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking them into realizing that they don’t have to suffer. I mean, I wouldn’t really shake them, of course, especially if they have a bad back or anything, but you get what I mean. And I want to dispel the idea that yoga is awkward or hard to do. Although I am not a yoga expert with a vast library of poses, I know enough to say that a little stretching goes a long way. It’s logical really – before runners run, they stretch to be limber so as not to hurt themselves. Now imagine doing this regularly to decrease stiffness in the body.

I have a stubborn friend who is just not entirely convinced. I recently gave her a nice Manduka yoga mat, which is like the Lexus of yoga mats, only the one I gave her was the lighter, less expensive version. She also has a Wii, but she only plays tennis, bowling, or golf on it whenever there’s a little get-together – I’ve never seen her try the yoga balance board. I’ve even given her a DVD, popped in the disc, and had her follow along to show how the poses flow easily. She didn’t actually do any poses – she just watched while I did them. At least I’ve finally gotten her to the point where she nods in acknowledgment that yoga could do wonders for her, but she’s still putting it off.

But that’s just human nature, isn’t it? When it comes to making decisions in life, everyone will do things when they are ready. So I just have to accept that my friend will make that decision to include yoga in her life when she’s ready to do so – and in the meantime, I’m just going to have to be patient and continue to encourage her.

[TAGS]stretching, preventing injuries, doing yoga when the time is right, encourage, benefits of yoga[/TAGS]