"It will never be the same."

"It will never be the same."

"It will never be like it was."

"It can never be like it used to be."

Throughout our lives I am sure we have all heard some variation of the sentences above. We may even had said those words ourselves. And usually when they are spoken, it is about the relationship between people.

I have heard those words quite a bit the past few months myself. In the past, those words would have made me sad. By saying something will never the same, it had always indicated the end of something. But when those words were spoken to me earlier this month, I didn't feel the usual sadness. And I have to admit, I was surprised by that initially. But a recent visit to my yoga studio put it all in perspective for me.

My instructor said it so perfectly: "Our practice on the mat prepares us for what happens off the mat." She explained that we hold these poses and work on our breathing, teaching ourselves to breath in stressful situations both on and off the mat. That was such an "a ha!" moment for me! It finally clicked. I was taking my practice off the mat, applying the lessons I was learning for my yoga practice to my daily life.

When I am not practicing yoga or spending time with my family as a wife, mother, daughter or sister, I work in the media. A former colleague of mine would say every day "Change is inevitable." And that certainly applies to my yoga practice. I learned early on that my practice will change from day to day. The Warrior II I hold today looks different from yesterday, from a week ago, from a year ago. And it will look different yet again a week from tomorrow.

Once again, my practice has prepared me for life off the mat! Every day things change. Nothing is ever the same, like it was, or how it used to be. And if my practice isn't going to be the same from day to day, why would I expect all of my relationships to be exempt from change? And when things do change, why does it have to necessarily have to be sad? Growth is a natural part of life, and sometimes there are pains to go along with it, but that is how we learn and improve ourselves and many aspects of our lives, including our relationships with others.

So, maybe it won't be the way it used to be.

But maybe it will be better.