I’ve been climbing indoors since the start of 2022. My roommate introduced me to the local climbing gym and I fell in love after the first session. I have been going roughly three times a week, MWF, and have kept that habit up since I first bought my pair of climbing shoes at REI.

Of course, with any kind of sport, injuries happen. While nothing broke or tore, I definitely felt a serious pain in my inner elbow and wrist on my right arm somewhere later that year. I chalked it up to not stretching properly; I gave myself a two to three week rest. During those weeks, the holidays came and went, so I didn’t keep up on any other activities. Coming back at the start of 2023 was a rude awakening, yet the arm didn’t hurt. Onwards and upwards.

Now it’s the middle of 2023 and the pain has sprung up again, this time it’s persisting. I’m a bit alarmed. I really want to get back up to the V4 level I was cresting. Taking care of your body means not destroying it, so I’ve decided to pause climbing and have contacted my physician. Haven’t heard back from him yet. So what should I do in the meantime?

By now, I think you’ll have figured out why the title of this post is “Yoga” because, yep, I’ve decided to kick start yoga in place of climbing. It’s much lower impact on the body and is a solid workout. Plus, the climbing gym offers yoga classes that are built into to the membership. Easy as.

The Internet says that Vinyasa yoga seems to be the best fit for beginners, so I checked the gym’s calendar and, sure enough, there was a class for me. Limited availability apparently, so I had to make sure I was there in time for the class. Would be pretty discouraging if I failed to even make it *into* the class.

Here is where I have to say that I *severely* underestimated exactly how taxing yoga would be. I knew that yoga wasn’t an “easy” exercise, but I didn’t think it would be as brutal as it was. I’m writing this the same day I finished the class and I honestly can’t imagine myself moving my body tomorrow. Getting out of bed? Ouch.

Enough complaining though, I have nothing but high praise for this “beginner” (I put it in quotes because it’s still an absolutely brutal full-body workout) style of yoga. I have known for a long time that I could probably be more flexible and have a stronger core, but yoga made it explicitly clear that I am far behind my understanding of my own body.

Wait a second. “Understanding my own body” seems pretty intense of a claim, right? Well, it is but it’s exactly how I feel about myself. I don’t really enjoy the concept of “a body” and how I have one. Silly, absurd, inane; heck, borderline insane even, I know. My body isn’t really something I like to think about. It exists alongside “me” (or whatever ephemeral ideation of “me” is) and I tend to disagree with most of it’s functions. Regardless, I need to face the truth that my body is kinda, well, mine. I should take care of it. This is why the yogi’s instructions to focus on my own body hit differently this time.

I am so used to just connecting with my body in a deeply superficial way. Meditation while sitting down doesn’t do anything for my body, but does wonders for my mind. Yoga forces me to focus on my muscles and joints and limbs. The stretching, contortions, fatigue, and even slight pain as I push myself into positions that I haven’t dreamed of make me keenly aware of how limited my body is–at least, limited for now.

Finishing the workout, drenched in sweat, I took the steps down to the water fountains to remove the dry feeling from my throat, my mind (surprisingly) racing. I *wanted* to go back and feel those things again. My heart pounding, my legs and arms moving in ways that pushed me to the limits, all showed me how unfit and weak I was. I want to get better and I want to become more in tune with my physical being. Sure I had been climbing, but yoga felt like it was going to do more.

Now I have another thing I can do to help push myself to becoming better. Let this post be a way to keep me both motivated and in check.

Until next time.