I am re-reading Journey Into Power : How to Sculpt Your Ideal Body, Free Your True Self, and Transform Your Life With Yoga by Baron Baptiste. And,..I am inspired…again.  I got back on my yoga mat last week after an inconsistent couple of months. Unlike any other form of exercise, my yoga mat welcomes me, engages me and keeps me connected to my practice. A treadmill does not connect me to running, a bike does not connect me to cycling and a piece of gym equipment does not connect me to weight lifting. When I do those activities I do them for improvement. I do them with a goal in mind and I usually do them thinking about what I can do next or what I could be doing if I wasn’t doing that.

When I am practicing yoga, it isn’t about the goal but about the practice. I love to do it.

With that knowledge, I still can’t understand one thing. If yoga makes me so happy, so grounded, and so healthy, then why can’t I easily step onto my mat every day?

P.S. Did you order your free yoga dvd yet?

Check out this great video featuring MSer Kendall Freeman, Neurologist Elliot Frohman and Baron Baptiste of Baptiste Power Yoga Institute. You can order your free DVD here:

In October 2009, I flew to Boston and took part in a Yoga program with Baron Baptiste. The program was developed and a DVD was produced by Biogen Idec. There are three levels of Yoga on the DVD and it is FREE! I would recommend the DVD to MS patients and anyone who is interested in developing a practice of their own.

Go to www.MyMSYoga.com

• Register to receive a free DVD
• View video clips from the DVD and learn more about modifying yoga poses
• Vote to bring Baron Baptiste to local cities to teach MyMS Yoga classes – visit the “local events” section

If you order the video, look for me in the Transformations and Restorations programs. I’m the one in the back row to the left as you are watching.

I took a yoga class a few weeks ago that was warm and dark…two things I am often afraid of based on previous experiences.

Early in my MS diagnosis, I had extreme heat sensitivity and balance issues. I would fall over when my eyes were closed, and start losing sensation in my hands and feet when I got too warm.

In the yoga class, my eyes were closed for 99% of the two hours and the room was warm. This wasn’t “hot yoga” but it was a very warm room. I looked inward and let go of the fear of falling or overheating. I didn’t have to talk myself into anything or do anything special. I just changed the way I thought about things.

Three years into MS and my body is different. My mind is different, and for two hours, I let go of the fear and let the energy in class, my breath and my movement show me the way.

What are you afraid of?

Last week, I came down with a cold which turned into a sinus infection. Yesterday, I was concerned that this was all leading to an MS relapse. Today and for the rest of the weekend, I resolve to slow down and make sure my body is healing.

Yesterday, I was really dizzy and having some balance issues and it reminded me of when I first started taking Yoga classes three years ago. At the time, I had ongoing issues with balance and vertigo and Yoga helped me through that in so many ways. At first, I learned that focusing on my breath was not only relaxing but helped me to feel more stable. When I took early morning Yoga classes, I would use some of the balance poses as a gauge for the day. If I couldn’t stabilize in certain poses, I would try others. This reminded me that if something didn’t work for me during the day because of the way my body was responding, I didn’t have to push through it. I could try something else. On the days where it felt like I could hold a balance pose forever, I knew I could be strong for the day.

Yoga continues to remind me that even when I cannot “find the balance”, there is another solution until I can.