I have been doing yoga for about five years. Until a year ago, I thought I was quite good. I’d put on my yoga shorts and top, unroll my Roots yoga mat, pop in my Power Yoga DVD and away I’d go – just me and yoga guru Eion Finn and his two-dimensional students. Non-judgmental and trusty, they always showed up on time for class. If I were ever late, they waited for me.

Then, as I was writing my first novel, Stuck in Downward Dog, which comes out this May, there were, as the title implies, a few yoga scenes. While going through the editing process, my wise and practical editor would say to me: “Is this realistic? Does this happen?” And in my head I would think, Beats me. I had no idea. Sure, I had been to yoga studios for media events but hadnever actually done a class, except at the gym, where it’s not quite the same as an actual yoga class in an authentic yoga studio. Once I had even gone so far as to fill out the health form at a yoga studio, but I chickened out before the class started. Of course, I couldn’t admit this to my editor, so I signed up for a trial week of classes at a bikram (yoga in a heated room) studio.

Even though I’d been practising yoga at home for years, I was terrified. What if the class wasn’t like the DVD? What if none of the same poses existed? What if it was like a step class with a set routine that I didn’t know but everyone else did? I didn’t know what to expect, which was precisely the reason I needed to take the class.

Turns out it wasn’t like the video. For one thing, since it was hot yoga, I was sweating like I’d never sweat before. Unlike the gym, where you can arrive late and leave early, there was no coming and going at the yoga studio. The door closes when the instructor enters the room and opens when the class is over. Also, when you don’t do a position correctly, the instructor corrects your position, which feels like criticism, but is really for the best. Really. And when you fall out of a position, you can’t just go get a glass of water from the kitchen or play with the cat until the next position starts. You have to stand there, while everyone around you completes the pose. How embarrassing.

Still, there’s this feeling of self-empowerment and enlightenment that comes from doing a class, because, if the instructor is well-trained, she’ll get you thinking about yoga as a way of life, not just a form of exercise. This notion inspired us to feature ways to incorporate yoga into your everyday life (see “Yoga for Your Body, Mind and Soul” p. 44). Whether it’s an easy yoga move you can do at your desk to relieve stress or cleansing your skin according to your dosha, these yoga elements will help you find balance in your day.

Now, even when I don’t make it to a yoga class for some reason (bad weather, bad timing, bad outfit), I incorporate a bit of yoga into my life. When I do make it to a class, I dab a little anxiety-relieving neroli oil on my yoga mat, just to be safe.

Publisher and Editor-in-chief

CHANTEL SIMMONS, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
chantel@elevatemagazine.com