Saturday morning I attended an 8 am hot yoga class here in Hoboken. I don’t usually attend weekend classes because they are packed and I’m not that comfortable with my yoga skillset just yet. “Packed” means there are about 40 people in the class and no matter which way you look, another person is no further than 4 inches away. Very little margin for error!

The class was an hour long. This instructor is very experienced which means we were all going to work really hard because she knows more poses than the average Joe (or yogi)—but she’s so sweet too, so that made it fun! At the 50 minute mark, all of us dripping in sweat, she began to wind things down and as we laid on our backs she placed an ice-cold wet washcloth on our forehead. This happens every class, but this time I really marveled at this gift. It’s exactly what all of us needed and—quite frankly—deserved. We all laid on our mats, eyes closed, soaking in what we just accomplished and allowing the fabulous cold washcloth to bring our body temperatures back down.

The washcloth was a gift, acknowledging our hard work, and giving us exactly what we needed at that moment. Do you ever do that for yourself? We spend weeks, maybe even months working hard, but when do we ever acknowledge it with a gift? I don’t mean the eventual massage that gets booked once we’ve gone beyond the limit. I mean the daily or weekly gift, acknowledging our hard work. Think of at least three gifts you can give yourself and they don’t need to cost anything! Here are a few I thought of: a bath, an early close on Friday (even if it’s by 15 minutes), and time outside in nature. Don’t wait until you’re fried, get in the habit of weekly gifts for yourself! You deserve it!

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
Beth Fitzgerald