Meet our student of the month, Lindsay!

Lindsay has done this style of yoga for 20 years! While many look for something new in January, Lindsay shares what it’s like to stick with the same “workout” year after year. Her experience helps uplift everyone in the yoga room and motivates us to stay with it even when you might want to quit. We’re so happy to have her part of our great community! Read more in her own words:

“January marks my 20-year yogaversary. It doesn’t mean much other than maybe my commitment and dedication to the practice. Or more likely, that I am a glutton for punishment. It’s a thin line. In that time, not only has my practice evolved, but my reasons for practicing.

I began on my yoga journey at the ripe old age of 20 after I’d hurt my knee playing soccer in college and needed a “replacement” for the workout I would get but without all the running. After a couple years of experimenting with workouts and other forms of yoga, I was introduced to Bikram Yoga and never looked back. I was hooked from day one. It fed my competitiveness as well as my physical capabilities. And I sweat like I’d never sweat before.

Through the years, yoga and I had our ups and downs. Like any committed relationship, it takes work. We had a few knock down drags out, and I think we even broke up once. (Those 4 days were rough!) But we always found each other. I craved the practice. My body needed it. It became my sanity. The practice forces me to stop thinking. To shut my mind off. It can also be quite humbling and has hit me right in my pride. More times than I’d like to admit.

In the beginning, my practice was very superficial. It was a competition. Mostly with myself. I compared myself to others who had been practicing longer than me. (I wonder if they’re still practicing?) I wanted to be the “best” regardless of whether the posture was correct. It may have looked cool, but it was so, so wrong.

These days, I practice a little differently. It’s no longer a competition. I have an appreciation for the other yogi’s postures, especially when they can do the posture better than me. Who cares that I still can’t do the splits in standing bow, even after 20 years? It doesn’t matter that I still bend my knee in separate leg head to knee. So what if I fall out when I touch my forehead to my knee in standing head to knee? (Literally, almost every time.) I practice with intention. I listen to what’s going on in my body that day. That class. So that I can continue to practice for the next 20 years. Have my postures improved over the years? Sure. But that’s not without really great, supportive instructors. Practice no longer makes perfect. Practice makes permanent.

Over the years, this practice hasn’t just changed me physically, but also mentally and emotionally. The way I approach my practice has spilled over into my everyday life with my relationships at work and at home. I am thankful for a VERY supportive husband that understands how important this practice is to me. I love that I am setting positive examples of what health and strength are to my 2 little girls. I appreciate all the other yogi’s who practice alongside me, on the good days and the bad. I was super surprised and very honored to be student of the month. But most of all, I am especially grateful for Lynne, Kyle, Edward, and all the Catonsville instructors that have helped make this studio into a community.”