by Mar Aige
My love story with mindful movement began at 18, when I tried my first yoga class at my college gym. The teacher was a kind old lady who explained that we had to completely let go of everything in her class. Ideally our backs would rest flat on the floor, each muscle gently touching the ground because there would be no stress or holding. She called the pose Shavasana, saying it was the most difficult of all. She then enumerated a long list of obscure-sounding body parts, asking us to relax them in turn. We giggled and tried our best. This was a different type of exercise, and I was very intrigued.