Use It Or Lose It: Why I Yoga Every Damn Day

I started practicing yoga for a lot of reasons, but the most urgent was that at 24 years old I had “thrown my back out,” as they say for any condition involving excruciating pain that keeps you from being able to sit, stand, walk, or lay down without crying.

There wasn’t a doctor, physical therapist, or chiropractor who could fix me. They all just shrugged their shoulders and said, “You’re really young for this to happen to you”—which is a devastating thing to hear, by the way, and was a major wake up call:

I needed to start taking care of myself.

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When I practice yoga or pilates, or go for a run or a bike ride, it’s not to burn calories or look better in a bikini.

I move my body every day because I learned at an early age what it feels like when you’ve neglected it.

I don’t take my health for granted, ever.

What’s that old saying?

Use it or lose it.

That’s what I remind myself of, any time I’m feeling cranky or lazy or “too busy” to check in with my body.

I’d always rather use it.