By Michael McManus, LCSW, Psychotherapist
For ten years, my wife invited me to yoga. For ten years, I had a reason not to go. I was too busy, too stiff, too set in my ways. About two years ago I finally said yes. These days I rarely miss.
As a psychotherapist, I’ve spent decades helping people slow down and pay attention to what is happening inside them. It took me a while to realize I could also benefit from this slowing down and getting more centered and grounded. The first thing yoga gave me was a better morning. I walk in with whatever I’m carrying: a restless night, a full calendar, a worry I can’t put down. An hour later I walk out lighter, centered, and grounded with a clarity that lasts almost all day. My schedule is the same, but I’m not. Yoga doesn’t just fill an hour. It sets the course of my whole day. Then there is the stretching. At my advanced age, my body has opinions, and yoga has taught me to listen to them instead of arguing. Muscles that were tight for years have loosened up. I move more easily getting out of the car, working in the yard and picking up my granddaughter.
The research backs up what I feel. Regular yoga improves flexibility, balance and strength. The breathing may be the most valuable part. We take something like 20,000 breaths a day and notice almost none of them. In yoga, every breath is on purpose. Slow, deep breathing calms the nervous system, eases stress and quiets the mind’s constant chatter. I teach breathing techniques to my clients, and practicing them in a room full of people has given me even more respect for how simple and powerful they are.
What surprised me most was the community. I expected to feel like the awkward new guy in the back row. Instead, I found people of every age and ability who were welcoming, encouraging and quick to offer a kind word or a laugh. Nobody is competing. Everyone is just showing up for themselves, and somehow that makes it easier to show up for each other.
Carl Jung believed body and soul were never really separate. Yoga is where I’ve felt that most plainly. When the body relaxes, the mind follows, and something deeper gets room to breathe.
So why do I go? Because I leave feeling better than when I arrived, every single time. I finally listened to my wife Angela. She was right all along, and I’m happy to admit it in print. If you’ve been putting it off, take it from a reformed skeptic. Unroll a mat. You may be glad you did.
Michael McManus LCSW is a psychotherapist in private practice in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida where he lives with his wife of 42 years, Angela. He can be reached by text or phone at (850) 837-0123 to discuss setting up an appointment or through his website psychotherapy30A.com.
RSS
