gaining health (and some weight loss)

The recent yoga journal article on health and weight was really helpful to me for continuing to think about long-term health as a process and  life-long endeavor to eat well, to get good exercise, to plan activity dates with friends and be healthy together. Into the 6th week of weight watchers, I've struggled with the anxiety over losing and not losing enough lbs every week. The past few weeks I have cut back on food intake, and just generally changed my eating habits. I've also tried to include just a little more exercise every week, working it in more subtly and consistently to my regular-life schedule. But when I get to the scale on Thursdays, there isn't as huge a payoff as I want there to be. And then I have to give myself "the talk" about life, and health, and practice.

In yoga the teachers often say, "this is yoga practice, not yoga perfect." I love that. And in fact, I feel like the more I do yoga, the harder it becomes. It's not hard in a way that makes me feel like I can't do it, but just the opposite: the more challenging it is, the more I'm encouraged to push myself and keep practicing. I definitely feel that I've improved as a yoga practitioner; I have more strength, and some days better balance, and I can do a lot more core strengthening things (crunches and etc!) before it hurts bad. But I also feel like continuing to practice is exactly that: staying in the space of the present, enjoying the process and letting go of the anxiety of goals or analyzing or judging myself for what I'm not doing and what I don't look like.

This has been the most helpful in order to keep tracking points and really spending time with my eating and exercising practices. Eating less and feeling satisfied, making better choices that benefit this body, exercising more in ways that feel good and energizing...these are what yoga-inspired weight watchers is helping me to learn.

Lately, one of my yoga instructors has been saying, "what you focus on, you create." I have learned this the hard way in my personal relationships, and this has affected my physical and emotional life. But now that I have more insight, and better practices from moment to moment, I only feel positive about continuing to learn and "improve" myself, from the inside out.