While yoga used to be reserved for vegan hippies who could fold themselves in a pretzel, it’s become pretty mainstream, and for good reason — it’s a pretty mind-blowing mind/body workout that can ease your stress levels and make you feel better. Plus you get to wear cute leggings, so it’s a win-win kind of situation. When you think about it, yoga and that little thing called love are kind of similar. Here’s what yoga and falling in love have in common:
- You’re addicted at first. When you first try yoga, it’s a seriously amazing moment. You swear this is the only kind of exercise you’re ever going to do and you want to go ever single day of the week. It’s similar to that lusty feeling you get where you first fall for a new guy.
- They both hurt. Let’s be real here: love hurts. If it didn’t there wouldn’t be so many love (and anti-love) songs. Yoga kind of hurts, too. The pros will tell you it’s not supposed to be but it really, really does. Just try holding plank for a few minutes or going super deep into a lunge. Ouch.
- There’s a whole lifestyle attached. Yoga is all about eating healthy, being fit, being strong, and wearing those adorable patterned leggings that are all the rage right now. You don’t just do yoga – you live and breathe it. When you’re part of a couple, it’s a real lifestyle, too. You and your boyfriend have your routine, your favorite TV shows, your local Italian restaurant that you head to where you’re tired of cooking.
- You need to put effort in. You can’t up your yoga game if you half-ass every class. You have to consistently show up, try hard and put the effort in. Practice makes perfect, in other words. The same is definitely true of any relationship. If you ignore your BF or refuse to spend time with him, you’re asking for a lot of problems down the road.
- Not every style works for everyone. There are tons of different types of yoga, from the slow restorative classes to hatha to the fast-paced, vigorous vinyasa workouts. There are different ways to love someone and be in a relationship, too: some couples are super clingy, others want more time apart, and some people prefer to be more casual with zero labels or plans for the future. It’s all good.
- They won’t be all good, all the time. Nothing is perfect, not your yoga practice or your relationship. Sometimes you miss a class and feel crappy, and other times you’re just not on your game and fall out of your lunges (embarrassing but it happens). Sometimes you and your boyfriend are super crabby around each other and the rest of the time, it’s all about the love. It’s OK for both of these things to ebb and flow – you’re changing all the time and so will they.
- They can be terrifying. Yoga is definitely scary – those crazy women can do headstands and handstands and balance on their arms. So is falling in love. You’re putting yourself in the hands of someone else, someone would could seriously break your heart and leave you totally depressed.
- They’re both super weird. There are a lot of strange things about yoga that you just have to kind of accept and go with when you get into it. You get your body into a lot of pretty weird poses and positions. Love is weird, too, and you do a lot of things you never thought you would, like whipping up chicken soup from scratch for your sick boyfriend when you hate cooking.
- They’re out of your control. When the yoga bug bites you, that’s it – you’re a total goner and you can’t control it. You’re the same way when you fall in love. It’s like love has chosen you instead of the other way around.
- They’re worth it. At the end of the day, not much is more gratifying than becoming amazing at yoga and knowing that you have a stable, healthy, amazing relationship. You embrace the rough moments because you know that they got you where you are today, and where you are is pretty awesome.
