There are some savvy people in our world today who know when, where and how to sink their money into a financial venture that will bring them a good return. I, on the other hand, care little about Dow Jones. Instead, I choose to invest my time and energy into my personal mental and physical wellness. And I’ve found that I consistently get a good return. 

Only You Can Do It

Unlike hiring a financial investor, only you can be the one to invest your time and energy into your health and wellness. For me, yoga, the practice of harnessing my breath, body and mind, is a risk free venture. I find it easy to incorporate into my life. It is free and natural and my daily practice is a good remedy from the stress I experience from simply living in the world today.

 Yoga is not limited by income or intellect and I can practice it at any time and anywhere. It is an understatement that living in our world today is demanding. There are emails, texts and phone calls to answer. We have commitments to keep, places to go and people to please. It is no wonder we have difficulty catching our breath, keeping our bodies at ease and focusing our thoughts.  

But stress is no joke. It weakens our immune system, increases our blood pressure, leads to overeating, obesity and heart disease. Long term tension over time activates our sympathetic nervous system and keeps us in a state of high alert. Over time and without learning how to destress, our bodies will function less effectively. 

But more than 36,000,000 Americans now practice yoga. Most gyms offer it, many public schools teach it and a number of doctors recommend it to their patients. Timothy McCall, author of Yoga as Medicine, says “Yoga is a systematic way to improve the function of everything in the body a little bit. Keep up the practice, and those improvements tend to deepen over time.” 

It amuses me that when people find out that I am a yoga instructor they want to tell me all the reasons why they don’t practice yoga. “I’m just not very flexible,” is the most frequent statement. Another one is, “I tried it once and didn’t like it.” Finally, there is the worry that compared to others in a yoga class, people say, “I would look and feel out of place.” 

First of all, I can assure you that our bodies will only become flexible as we practice flexibility. Secondly, there is more than one type of yoga and I’m confident there is one just right for you. Finally, if you worry about feeling out of place in a yoga class, then check out a book from the library or go on the internet to any number of free online videos and practice in the privacy of your own home.  

Why bother investing in your health? You will get a good return from investing in your health, but only you can make that investment.