H is for HONK if you love Yoga!

So you may have noticed that my handle is writeryogini. That's because I am both a writer and a certified yoga instructor. Writing and yoga are the two things that have been with me since I was a child, two things I have always loved and to which I have always returned.

I first did yoga around the age of 10. It was 1965, and a woman named Sue Luby was starting up classes in our town. My mother wasn't a hippy or anything, in fact, she was a pretty traditional kind of gal. But she probably wanted some exercise, and it was something we could do together. Mind you, she was a big-boned, non-athletic English lady, and I was this chubby, non-athletic kid. But off we went.

I have a very clear memory of us both being in Halasana (another H word) or Plow Pose, lying on our backs on the dusty floor of a musty smelling community room, hips hoisted off the ground, legs slung back over our torsos and toes touching the floor behind our heads. I remember glancing over at my Mom and thinking, "Hey, we can actually do this!" For a kid who couldn't do a single chin-up and for whom running felt the way it does when you dream you are running but you can't actually get anywhere, being able to do the physical yoga poses was liberating.

Although I didn't always practice yoga regularly after that, it remained with me as a) something physical that I was good at, b) a fond memory of something Mom and I did together and c) something that kept calling me back. Mom would get a kick out of the fact that something that had seemed like a lark way back when we were young turned out to be such an integral and important part of my life.

I'll probably write more about yoga (Y seems like a likely candidate), but this is enough for now. 'Cause once I get started, it's hard to shut me up - that's how great I think yoga is for mind, body and spirit.

Anyone else out there love yoga?