I firstly came across yoga when I was a shy 5-year-old. My mother took me to a wide, bright space where I hid myself in a small corner. Timid and curious, I watched my mother and a bunch of women stretching their bodies, while deeply inhaling and exhaling at the same time. I really had no idea about what yoga is, and it seemed to me that my mother in her one-piece swimsuit twisted her whole body so painfully and hard. Today, more than 20 years later, I'm doing what my mother was doing at that time. In order to know more about yoga, I turn my body into a lab to experiment inhalation, exhalation, stretch and twist.

The Yoga mat is actually an amazing thing for me. I can stand firmly inside this rectangular thing without my high-heels, jeans, suit, mascara, etc., which I am strong attached to. With the most comfortable clothes and my bare feet, I can return to my most natural self. In this amazing rectangular space, I can almost transform myself into a cat, a cow, a pigeon or a crow! I can also be a bravely moving warrior or a firmly standing tree. I seem to become another me on the yoga mat!! Like magic, it's really beyond my imagination that my body can be so softly twisted while my arms and legs can be so strong!! The constant yoga practice makes me deeply realize that an essential, large transformation with infinity starts with my own body.

Meditation is my favorite session but it's the toughest part as well. I really like to breathe in and out deeply and steadily. Every time the deep inhalation and exhalation remind me that the breath is more than something we are born with, but also a way for me to observe myself and to calm my mind. However, facing the real me is the hardest challenge in meditation. My mind is so restless in silence. It seems to be really hard for my mind to be still. In meditation I see my bad temper derived from stress at work, my frustration from something that happened yesterday, and my unsatisfactory practice just few minutes ago, etc. All of these fragmented images keep running through my mind. I observe the messy, ugly me through meditation. To tell the truth, it's really painful to admit and know such a messy me. Nevertheless, I still try hard to convince my mind to love “me” during the meditation in yoga practice every time. I learn to bravely face my unhappiness and then to love myself entirely. During the meditation, breathing slowly and deeply always helps and reminds me to let go of the “bags,” especially when my mind starts flying all over the place uncontrollably. I keep learning to let go, the most important and toughest lesson I learn from meditation.