5 Years and a Half of Yoga: A Journey of Perfect Attendance

Today marks ⁢5 years, 6 months, and ⁣2 days​ since‌ I ⁢started yoga. 5 years‌ and a half. 66 months. And 2 days. ⁣If I were‌ to ‌give ⁤myself a reward for this ‍not-so-long or ⁤short ‍period of time, it would⁣ be‌ a perfect attendance award.

I think I was​ a⁢ bit far ‌from perfect attendance award when I ‌was young. In elementary school, I had a bit of a sickness, ⁢so I think I didn’t receive a perfect attendance award, let alone a regular attendance award, until ⁤I was in the​ 5th or 6th grade. I remember receiving a regular​ attendance award in ‌middle⁣ and high school… In college, I skipped class⁢ so much in my 1st⁤ and 2nd year that it was a miracle I ‌didn’t receive⁣ an⁣ academic warning?

I remember that I started living ⁣a life worthy of ‌a perfect attendance award when I was‍ a‍ senior ⁤in college. It was‌ after I decided ‍what I wanted to do with my life.

Originally, I ​am the type of person who gets absorbed in something when⁢ I get hooked on it. Now that I​ think about it, there is ‌no one who doesn’t do that. Since the ⁤word ‘get hooked’ has‍ the inherent ​meaning of ‘immersion’… it is a sentence that is like the same thing. Perhaps a more appropriate ‌question would be whether you have‍ ever had the luck or will to find⁢ or ​meet something​ you are ‘engaged in’ while living your life.

I have had many ⁤experiences of being ‘hooked’ in my life. ​I had two or⁣ three terrible ‍(perhaps foolish) unrequited ⁤loves⁣ when I was young, and fortunately​ I got hooked on physics early on, ⁢and ⁤I have been immersed in‍ Ashtanga yoga ⁢for the past five and a half ‍years.

In​ any field, after years of continuous effort,⁢ when you‌ reach a certain level, you seem to gain confidence, composure, or self-esteem. In that society, recognition from others is recognition, but it is also a sense of surprise or pride that you have blossomed a small potential within yourself into ⁢a huge flower through hard work.

However,⁤ this is not a great ‌achievement.⁤ Even ⁣after five and a half years, ​I still can’t⁤ even imitate Karandavasana from ‍the intermediate series. However, since I‍ can grab my heels with both hands in Kapotasana, I can say that I have overcome the beginner level.

This is the result of perfect attendance in yoga practice.⁤ It is indeed ‘99% practice, ⁤1% talent’. Or‌ as Woody Allen put it: ‘Ninety nine percent of success in life is just showing‍ up.’