Laughter really is the best medicine. I know that I have said it before but today it came up SO many times for me. Just thought I would share 🙂

Yoga for me is not just about the physical challenge. I love the spiritual and emotional aspects as well. As much as I love it I was also finding myself hating it at times. When I do a simple downward dog I look nothing like those beautiful people in yoga magazines and books who do it so perfectly. My balance is minimal and there is a lot of weight to that word. More often than not, I find myself resting when others don’t which, in my mind, others see as weakness. Well today I went to a class with one of my good friends and of course we get there and are forced to lay our mats right in front of the mirrors that were lining the walls. NOT OK. I have a thing with mirrors and I prefer not to see myself, full length view, when standing amidst a bunch of slender, in shape yogis. As the class began, I avoided eye contact with myself at all costs. As class went on I caught myself catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror during a downward dog. Then again while in child’s pose. Standing at the top of my mat, before even attempting dancer pose, I just sighed and felt completely hopeless. Balancing on one leg for me is still extremely challenging and rarely can I hold a pose long enough to call it a pose. Well, I surprised myself; left arm up and my right foot in my right hand, done. I lasted maybe ten seconds. Looking into the mirror, making full eye contact with myself, I smiled and let out a barely audible giggle. Holy Santa Clause shit. I just did the first part of dancer pose. Attempt number two on the right side proved even more successful because I actually bent forward and was able to balance. Falling out of the pose again, I giggled a little louder. Balancing on my right leg was a little harder but I still looked myself straight in the eyes and cracked a smile. Even later in the class we found ourselves in the craziest position, one I had never done before. One foot on the mirror and balancing on the other. One hand on the floor and the other in the air. I couldn’t even handle it, I busted out laughing at myself which then caused my friend Natalie to laugh. As the instructor walked around past us she applauded our laughter which made us laugh even harder. Oh man. It was a ‘wish you could have been there’ kind of moment. Even after the class was over, Natalie and I continued to laugh.

Later on in the evening, after running errands, I went for a lovely little drive down to the battery. It is one place in Charleston that will always put a smile on my face. All of my windows were down and my sunroof was open allowing to enjoy the sunshine maximally. Driving down the road I came across a rather large puddle. Rather than avoid it I drove straight through it. You can probably guess the consequence. Yup. Water came in through the passenger side windows and sunroof. Not just a little water either. It was a BIG puddle. Well rather than sit there and start to curse myself, I laughed. So hard. After I parked along the battery wall I continued to laugh to the point where people were staring. Did I care? No way. It was quite the ending to a lovely Sunday. Good thing I had some paper towels in the car to sop up some of the mess 🙂

So, laughter. It’s awesome. You can’t even deny it. You know what they say…

Live. Laugh. Love. Do it.