Choosing health - Yoga edition

There are many choices we make in life, one of which is how to best care for our physical bodies.  And once that choice becomes a priority, then there are a plethora of ways to be able to practice health.  I for one really love swimming and biking and running and occasionally playing volleyball with friends, and admittedly I am not very good at attending to the part where there is stretching involved.  That said, I do realize the necessity, and so I seek out ways to allow my body to find flexibility.  Easy enough - there are lots of yoga classes that are accessibly.  

The problem is I am not a fan of yoga...at least not in the middle of practice when it is hard and I notice how NOT flexible I am.  But I am a fan of what it does for my body and my mind, and I am a fan of the deliberate practice and of learning how to be present in times that are not physically comfortable for me.  And I so very much appreciate that although I can pull up a video and do yoga in my own home, there is something about the energy in a place where we do yoga together that offers another piece to the practice.   The "work" that I do in a yoga class is for me and it is mine, but I know that the communal energy pushes me deeper into the practice, I know if I need help others are right there. I know I will make friends simply by being present.  I know that because that is also how community works.  I see it on a regular basis, I experience it on a regular basis.  

Sometimes I think it is like eating things like liver, or Kale.  I need the iron, but I am not a fan of those foods.  (I don't eat liver anymore, but that is another story)  We choose to allow ourselves to find health.  Sometimes that means that we will not always be in the moment of full pleasure.  That is a thing in the life of humanity.  Somehow we have gotten it in our heads that life is simply about creating pleasurable experiences.  But if we are choosing to be healthy (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) there are parts of the road that are hard.

These choices are all a part of the explorations in this journey of life that we walk, more often together than alone.