Journey to yoga

This is my first proper post on this blog and I know deep down it may never come to fruition - but everything has to start somewhere. I will start - like any good story - from the beginning.

The yoga journey started in 2019 - I was in my mid-20s, single and living in London. A key part of the image of a young professional who is getting herself ready to find an equally eligible bachelor is staying fit. For me and my tribe of co-workers - the answer to all our endorphin needs was Third Space.

For the uninitiated, Third Space is an upmarket, luxury gym chain in London - which provides you with effectively boutique classes of any sort as well as a nice gym, pool, the whole works. I probably spent a good 10-15% of my earnings each month on my Third Space membership, but to me it was a non-negotiable.

I loved the high intensity exercise, the atmosphere and my lush towels and products at the end of class. As my fitness goals kept getting more sophisticated, I decided I wanted to get more flexible and going to the Third Space yoga classes would probably do that job.

What I didn't expect was how the yoga class with lovely Claire came to be the highlight of my week - within a couple of months I was a regular. I learnt bits and pieces about the wider universe of yoga - I knew I liked vinyasa because you flowed, yin was slow but a good stretch and hot yoga was nice when it was cold.

Then came COVID-19. No more HIIT classes, no more spin and no more yin with Claire. I had very little space in my tiny room in South London, so after a week of tying myself in knots mentally - I got my first yoga mat. There was just enough space on the floor for the mat - so even if I had preferred a HIIT workout, jumping, running and weight lifting just wasn't possible with the space I had.

Then came my actual yoga obsession - for two months, I would do yoga twice a day following the brilliant Kassandra Reinhardt on YouTube. "Yoga with Kassandra" was truly a game changer - it was the closest thing I could get to being back in the room with Claire. Every evening I chose a new video and the classes gave me a habit to wake up to every morning at a time where the outside world seemed uncertain and bleak.

A few months later, I moved flats and was now in North West London - I could finally see my friends and I could finally get back in the gym. I was still primarily working from home, so I decided I could no long justify the nice, expensive Third Space membership by my office. But what next?

I kept going with Kassandra - but in addition, I found Yogaloft in London and it opened my heart to a much wider understanding of yoga. They had instructors who introduced pranayama, meditation and spiritual readings in classes. I was hooked. THIS was my type of yoga!

For two years, I loved every second of Yogaloft - but all good things come to an end and for me it was bittersweet when I had a chance to buy my first flat and move back to South East London.

Thank you for reading along so far! In the next post - I will discuss more recent steps in my yoga journey and what comes next.

Over and out,

Michi