Twisting poses are a complete disaster. I collapse the moment I twist.

When I first started, I was hit with such severe muscle pain after just one lesson that it was difficult to even raise my arms or sit down! Just as the pain began to subside, the next lesson day would arrive, and another week of muscle pain would begin.

After about two and a half months, the pain finally started to subside within four or five days. Then, one day, immediately after a lesson, I massaged the back of my thighs, which were particularly prone to severe muscle pain, and to my surprise, I found that I had no muscle pain at all the next day. That's right! I already knew from marathon running that massaging could reduce muscle pain by preventing lactic acid buildup, so why didn't I think of it sooner? Perhaps my brain was too exhausted from the intensity of the practice to even consider it.

The intensity was so great that on the first day of class, I was shocked, thinking, “Is this really a beginner’s class?!” The instructor performed the poses effortlessly, but there’s a huge difference between watching and doing. After just one round of “Sun Salutation,” I was gasping for air. When told to “breathe deeply and slowly,” I couldn’t help but breathe shallowly and rapidly, like “Hah, hah.” While my 10 years of stretching allowed me to manage forward bends, twisting poses were a complete disaster. I’d collapse the moment I twisted. Poses like curling my toes were so difficult I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. I wondered how everyone else could do them so easily. I was acutely aware of my weaknesses, realizing, “Wow, my body was this stiff,” or “I lack muscle in my arms,” or “There’s such a difference in strength between my legs!” This was my first step into Ashtanga yoga.

“Persistence is power” is truly an apt saying.

Even so, now, three months after starting yoga, my twisting poses have improved somewhat, though still imperfect. The “Sun Salutation” no longer leaves me as breathless as before. The number of poses I can do has gradually increased. A clear change I’ve noticed is that I can now practice at home about twice a week. Before, I was too afraid that the muscle pain would worsen and interfere with my work, so I couldn’t practice at all. And recently, as I’ve been able to keep up with the lessons, my carbohydrate intake has increased. This is the same phenomenon I experienced about three months into marathon training. It suggests that I’m building new muscle and require more energy. Of course, I know from experience that this will naturally subside after a while. Also, the unusual sleepiness I used to feel after practice has lessened slightly. For now, it seems I’m following a similar growth (?) trajectory as with marathon running.

Still, I truly believe that the first “three months” is the crucial period. During this time, you face a triple threat of “confusion,” “inability,” and “pain.” You can’t experience the triple joy of “fun,” “pleasure,” and “clarity.” That’s why initial setbacks tend to occur during this phase. The reason I was able to overcome this first hurdle was because, having experienced marathon running, I knew the principle that if you persist for about three months, you’ll at least be freed from the purely painful triple threat. “Persistence is power” is truly an apt saying.

My instructor has started to comment, “Your physique is changing.”

If I face another setback, it will likely be around the six-month mark when I become a bit more accustomed to it. My strategy is to move up to a higher-level class around that time, giving myself a new challenge. Seeing proficient practitioners will surely motivate me, thinking, “Ah, I still have a long way to go. I must try harder!” And when practicing among them, I might find myself able to do things I couldn’t before, simply by being pulled along by their progress. Being able to do what I couldn’t before—That, in itself, will be the greatest motivation.

Changes in physique can also be a motivator. You can tell by looking at people who have been practicing yoga for a long time. They have a certain suppleness, not just a lack of excess weight, but their bodies seem “aligned” as if their core is stable. Even after just over three months, my instructor recently commented, “Your physique is changing.” I can’t quite pinpoint how it’s changed, but I can feel a difference in my abdomen; perhaps because I consciously keep my stomach pulled in and focus on my lower abdomen while breathing during practice, the area around my waist has become more toned. That said, after two or three days, it tends to go back to its usual soft state. But if I keep at it, my abdomen will surely become firm, as if my internal organs are neatly tucked in, and my waist will slim down through the twisting poses… I’m sure of it!

In the world of yoga, where they say, “15 years to become a beginner,” I imagine it’s profoundly deep. But I can’t even fathom that depth yet… I have no choice but to practice, dreaming of the day it arrives! Or so I think.