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I have been subbing cycle and yoga classes a lot recently. In fact, I have subbed five classes so far this week, and I still have two classes to go. I love teaching other people’s class: I get to meet a whole new group of people, and I don’t have to worry about whether my … Continue reading »

Leave a Comment Exercise, Wellness, Yoga
  • You know how something will be brought to your attention, and then you start to notice it everywhere? Maybe it’s a name, or a song – for me, it has been yogic philosophy. As part of a management certification program I am enrolled in at work, I’m taking a four-day seminar based on the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This is exactly the type of book I would usually categorize as self-help bullshit and ignore completely, but I had heard good things about the seminar, so I figured, why not? On day one, one of the things that stood out to me was the idea that proactive people, as opposed to reactive people, put space between stimulus and response. In other words, they take the time to digest things that occur, and they make a conscious choice of how to respond. This is an idea I have heard over and over again in yoga – in fact, it was one of the strongest points I took away from my teacher training. I can honestly say that it is yoga and meditation that helped me create that space in my own life. I am by nature a very reactive person, and learning to step back from immediate reaction has been very difficult. On Tuesday, Washingtonian’s Well+Being blog featured a one-day food diary I had kept for them. I was so excited to see it online! A few hours after it was originally posted, and about two minutes short of a few hours after I emailed it to everyone I know, I noticed that someone had commented on the article. Over the course of the night, I noticed a few more comments. Two of these comments noted that I don’t seem to consume enough calories in a day for my activity level and may be supporting an unhealthy body-image ideal rather than realistic health and fitness. My original inclination was to be extremely defensive. I came up with a million reasons that what they wrote wasn’t true and why they had no idea what they were talking about anyway. (Because, obviously, their reactions to my eating habits were a judgment on me as a person.) But instead of shooting a response back right away, I practiced giving myself space between stimulus and response. I realized after giving myself that space that I actually really appreciated each of the points that the commenters brought up. For the record, I don’t consider myself someone who restricts calories in the interest of being thin. When I’m hungry, I eat, and when I’m full, I stop. But because that has not always been true for me and, frankly, for most of the women I know, I am really glad that conversations about unhealthy body image masquerading as healthy living are being had. I’m glad that people are looking at the calorie counts that active women actually need, not the calories that they think they should be eating. There is nothing sexy about starving yourself, and I wish I had known that since the first time I ever put myself on a diet, at the ripe old age of eight. As a result of these experiences and observations, I am extremely thankful to people brave enough to bring up these issues and challenge the status quo. In my case, I don’t believe calorie restriction to be in place, but I would rather have someone bring it up and ask me about it than ignore the issue and try to emulate a food plan that doesn’t fill them up or give them energy. So, after all of that verbiage, it turns out that the various aspects of my life suggesting space between stimulus and response are right. I have probably been refusing to listen to sound, oft-repeated wisdom for even longer than I have thought that I’m overweight; however, at least in this respect, it paid off. Okay universe, here’s your chance: you told me so.

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