I started practicing yoga in 2010 as a new challenge for myself. I have always been active: I love running and played sports throughout high school. But when I got to college I had very little "me time." I was living in North Dakota and could not run outside the majority of the year. I joined a twice-weekly yoga class that was offered at our school wellness center. This was my introduction to yoga.
I stared practicing Vinyasa/Hatha yoga at River Garden Yoga Center after I had my son 2 years ago. This has helped a lot with flexibility and relieving the tensions in my lower back and neck that come with being a new mom. I love practicing with Anna. And I always enter the studio from the back entry because I love walking through the garden. When I walk through the gate, it is as if the garden says to me: You are welcome here! And the next hour is for you to step into all that you can be.
What keeps me coming back to the mat is the challenge that yoga presents to an individual. Yoga challenges me to go deeper within myself, to find the very best of me; it challenges me to find the light within. It challenges me to be a little bit stronger than yesterday and it challenges me to be in balance with the world around me and accept it as it is. I also think my commitment to yoga has-in part-to do with proving to people (especially to people of my culture) that this is doable: that you can be a yogi and be Somali at the same time, that being healthy is more important than what others think of you.
The practice of yoga is very similar to the practice of the Islamic prayers. Both require you to step onto your mat, separate yourself from the world, and connect with yourself and center your mind. I feel yoga not only satisfies my physical wellbeing, it also enhances my spiritual wellbeing.
