Wherein I Go to Yoga (for the first time)

A comic about yoga, sketched this morning at The Cork & Cast, and finished at the Charlottetown Library.

Here’s a transcription:

First Page

My Auntie Fran was the first person I ever knew who did yoga. She was dogged by back pain and hoped it might help.

My scientist father thought yoga was loopy and a “woo-woo” distraction.

DID YOGA HELP HER? I HAVE NO IDEA.

But what stuck in my mind: yoga = WEIRD

When Auntie Fran took her own life when I was a teenager, it only served to cement “stay away from any of that,” deep inside me.

AND SO I STAYED AWAY (far, far away)

UNTIL 2018 when, feeling anxious and unsettled almost all the time, I emailed my friend Ian, who I’d seen heading to yoga in a nearby church every Thursday morning.

“Tell me about yoga,” I asked. AND HE TOLD ME!
Ian is a professional explainer, and he wrote me a 500-word missive on the value of yoga in his life. I WAS SOLD!! And so…

Second Page

I did absolutely NOTHING.

2019 → 2020 → 2021 → (6 years passed) → 2022 →
(still nothing) 2023 → 2024 → 2025 → until…

…this spring, Lisa started going to Ian’s Thursday morning class. She loved it. She came home (literally) SINGING. ♪♬

She invited me to join the class… (oh my…)

NO WAY!!

I rejected the idea out of hand.
Lisa felt shut down.
We got into an argument.

I came up with all manner of practical reasons why I couldn’t join the class. Scheduling conflicts. Interference with my workouts. “Honing in” on Lisa.

— AND. THEN. I. SAT. WITH. MY. FEELINGS. —

AND I realized that all my ‘reasons’ were rooted in a deeply-held childhood story. So I called bullshit on myself. I re-read Ian’s words. I took Lisa’s to heart…

AND I SIGNED UP FOR YOGA!

Third Page

Today was week number 4!

And…

YOGA IS WEIRD

But that turns out to be okay.

Every Thursday morning at 9:00 I join about 20 women, plus Ian, in the Trinity United basement for 90 minutes, led by Judith (who is sincere, welcoming, and funny).

I AM OKAY. IT’S OKAY. 

It’s okay. And confusing. And fun. And energizing. And connecting. It helps in all the ways Ian and Lisa predicted it would.

OM

The moral of the story? Listen to your friends. Listen to your love. Trust. Realize trauma for what it is.
Call bullshit. Lean in. Leap in. It will be (better than) OK.