Everyone has regrets about high school. Maybe they should have studied harder. Maybe they should have spent more (or less) time with their friends. Maybe they passed up an opportunity they never got again.
I wish I had done yoga.
I played football in high school. I lifted weights. I was in great shape, except I had lower back pain. It was most severe during football season, but hurt pretty much year round.
I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t severe and I really loved playing football. I thought back pain was just part of being a linebacker.
People told me to stretch. I stretched with the team before practice, so I thought I was following this advice.
Some people told me to do yoga. I laughed at them. Me, do yoga? Isn’t that for girls? Don’t you have to convert to Buddhism?
When I graduated high school and hung up my shoulder pads for the last time, the back pain softened. But it never went away. Throughout most of college I was still active, mostly playing basketball. While not as bad as football season, my back pain would flare up the day after a game of basketball.
Three years ago I found something that really helps. Yoga.
My wife Kelly was going to yoga classes here and there. While I had ignored previous suggestions to do yoga, the continued back pain five years after my last football game pushed me to consider joining her. And so I did.
The first class was exactly what I expected. I was really bad, inflexible and with poor balance. We had a moment of meditation at the end (which I hated at the time, but like yoga, I now have a more positive attitude). The class was nearly all female.
And yet, after about four classes, my back felt better!
Personal experience combined with Googling showed me what I would have already known had I paid attention in my high school anatomy class. My back pain wasn’t really the result of trauma to my back and it couldn’t be relieved with lower back stretches. It is largely caused by tight hamstrings. I have really tight hamstrings.
A yoga class does wonders for getting me to stretch my hamstrings and other tight spots, like my hips. I try to go once a week. Doing yoga regularly doesn’t necessarily make me feel better, it just makes my body not feel tight. That’s a little frustrating. But it’s worth it. And I wish I could go back in time to convince my high school self of it.