I’ve been thinking, Gentle Reader, about what kinds of things to blog about this year. My first blog post was just a reintroduction to the blog. This week, however, I’m at a loss. What to talk about?
I think I’ll talk about yoga.
I have yoga classes on Tuesday and Thursday morning, although I’ve not been for a month because of finals and traveling. But as a fat woman, I spent my entire life thinking that exercise was about losing weight, about punishing yourself for eating and being fat. I never knew it could be about enjoying your body, moving your body and feeling it stretch and pull. I LOVE yoga. It’s everything I ever wanted from my body I didn’t know that I wanted.
On Saturday, I am trying a Zumba class, which my friends assure me is fun. I do it because I want to move, I want to experience movement and joy, not to punish myself into losing weight. It is this attitude that helps me go to the gym. To enjoy going to the gym. To look forward to going to the gym.
So much of our attitude about exercise is about weight loss. But I’m not interested in weight loss anymore. I’m interested in being active, in having a healthy body that moves comfortably as it gets older. It has taken years and YEARS to get to that point, trust me. But in a lot of ways, my yoga class has helped with that. My instructor is so supportive, as are my fellow participants. There are bodies of all shapes and ages in my class, and we’re all just getting along the best we can. It’s beautiful.
The Postmodern Bluestocking 