An Ode to Yoga

You may have come across the Wendy’s commercial featuring two yogis promoting the chain’s new fresh-tossed salads and naturally assumed it was a brilliant marketing ploy. The truth is that although Yoga is trending more than ever, it’s no fad. Tracing its roots to the Far East reaches of India and based on Hindu beliefs as far back as 500 BC, yoga made its debut in the early 1960’s when the likes of Raquel Welch, Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger, The Beatles and Beach Boys helped propel its popularity. Today, yoga is widely recognized as more than just a great way to get in shape and feel great; it teaches you to look at yourself introspectively and without judgement. In many ways, life is like being on a yoga mat — sometimes it makes us feel energetic and ready to take on the world; other times we just lay on it, feeling lazy and self-loathing, sweat dripping. Yoga teaches you to accept your feelings and myriad moods and to realize that living is full of ebbs and flows. And it’s not just about refraining from road rage or the occasional spousal spat — it’s about learning to turn your perspective inward. When it comes down to it, the journey of yoga is not just about gaining flexibility in your limbs; it’s about expanding your mind, about being open to change and allowing your body to transform in ways you never dreamed. Next time you get a good laugh at a yoga commercial on TV, ask yourself if you should believe the hype and follow the trend…it might be just what you need to jumpstart the rest of your life.