I started studying meditation at 14 when I received a book for my birthday about Eastern Philosophy.
- I was taking interest in documentaries about Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism and my dad went out of his way to nurture this interest of mine.
Even though I didn’t really know what I was doing with meditation at first, I felt calm and at ease whenever I practiced it. I bought more books on meditation during high school and college, and I even joined a meditation group on campus that met daily. When I met my girlfriend, we bonded over many interests with meditation being one of the focal points. We shared many of the same religious and philosophical beliefs as well. However, she was obsessed with yoga and I had never tried yoga before. I was visiting a fitness center in my city every other day to stay in shape, but I never got around to joining one of the yoga classes at the gym. Once I started going to yoga classes with my girlfriend I stopped focusing on building muscle and instead wanted to nurture and develop mindfulness. Yoga had such a positive impact on my life that I told her that we should try Tai Chi as well. Luckily, our fitness center had a class on Tai Chi that met right after the yoga classes were finished. Doing group fitness classes with a significant other is a perfect way to spend time together and build on your romance. We work busy schedules and don’t always get as much time as we would like for dates. At least with our yoga and Tai Chi classes, we are there together spending time as if it was another date. I’m happy for our particular fitness center for this reason, because they have so many classes to offer regardless of your specific interests.