Student of the month: susan G.

What brought you to your yoga practice?
     I had been interested in Buddhism and eastern spiritual practices since I was in high school but became more fully interested again in my late 40s when I started a regular meditation practice. My interest in meditation is what actually led me to yoga. As I read more about meditation, it became clear to me that the practice of yoga could enhance my meditation practice.  

What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently?
First I learned that yoga was a wonderful way to become more centered, focused and calm in a way that was different from meditation but also a complimenting it . I also learned that yoga was good for my body.  As I practiced more regularly, I found that my body became both stronger and more flexible.  As I have aged, this has been a wonderful benefit.  If I don’t practice regularly at this point, I really feel it in my body.  Apart from Asana practice, the more I have practiced, the more I have learned about the other aspects of yoga including the precepts of the yoga sutras.  These have helped to provide a compass in my life that I did not expect at all.  
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What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga?
That yoga has so many benefits beyond the obvious ones of helping you stay in shape!  More importantly, I would  tell myself that yoga is a constantly evolving endeavor - a practice and not a goal.  I used to hope that I could eventually do poses perfectly but I realize now that perfection is not the goal nor is it really attainable.  It is the process of evolving toward any given pose or any given mindset that is the focus.