Meditation Medication

I may have found a “cure” to llama drama – or at least a salve to reduce the sting. It’s called yoga.

After years of procrastinating, I finally made a commitment to exercise by joining the YMCA last week. I don’t like to run or lift weights or swim (which limits my fitness options), but I do love to dance and there were several dance-related classes offered.

I started with yoga for several reasons: a) the 14-year-old girl at the YMCA front desk gave me an outdated schedule so I thought I was attending a pilates class and instead showed up for yoga; b) I haven’t gotten off the couch for about eight years, so I thought yoga might ease me back into some semblance of exercise routine; and c) yoga has a reputation for relieving stress and teaching relaxation techniques.

I’ve now attended two yoga classes and I’m hooked! In addition to the hope that I’ll lose weight, get in shape and tone up a bit, it is amazing for stress management because it’s so darn peaceful. With calming music playing softly in the background, the instructor leads us through a series of stretching and balancing and breathing exercises while quietly encouraging us with statements such as:

“Observe your breath without judgment”
AND
“Acknowledge your thoughts but don’t allow them to attach themselves to you”
AND
“Let your tongue fall away from the teeth” (I’m not exactly sure what this one means but I do know when I allow this to happen, I’m very close to snoring)

The instructor ends the classes by saying, “Take a moment to be grateful for the blessings of the day.” And you know what? I do!

Make no mistake – yoga is still a great workout. After the first class, I was quite sore and felt it most when doing strenuous activities like leaning over to get the clothes out of the dryer or drawing my girls’ bath water. You know, EXTREMELY strenuous stuff. I blame it on that “standing squats” exercise that I affectionately nicknamed “crouching tiger, hidden thigh pain.”

And I’m a little disappointed that I don’t already look like Jennifer Aniston after only two classes. Because I saw her on Oprah one day and she attributed her famous figure to yoga. Sadly, my body still more closely resembles Oprah’s.

Anyway, I know yoga won’t change my daughters’ dramatic tendencies, but it might change my REACTION to my daughters’ behavior – and that’s half the battle, isn’t it?!? Next time one of them starts acting up, I’m going to whisper in a soft and calm voice:

“Acknowledge your offspring’s infantile actions without judgment but don’t allow them to attach.”

If it works, that YMCA membership just paid for itself.