Monday, September 12, 2011

How to find out you're not in good shape, aka Try Yoga

I have been trying to get into a routine that includes a day or two of yoga a week for a year or so now. I've done it here and there, but not at all consistently. This past week I saw a post by a friend on Facebook that was a small list of her goals for the month of September and #1 was to do yoga twice. It made me realize that instead of feeling overwhelmed by the idea of doing yoga 2x a week, I could set a small, attainable goal like that and actually have a chance to achieve it. I did just that and I've already done it twice in 4 days!
I took a small yoga "awakening" class on Friday morning at the gym at 8am. I like the classes at my gym because they're not crowded and I had plenty of personal space. The teacher was cool and casual about things, which I prefer over a very serious, new-agey class. I am just getting into this and I'm really tight and uncoordinated so I need to be able to laugh at myself when I topple over. The class was an hour and 15 mins and it was really tough! I had done a new core and upper body workout the night before in the park, so I was a little sore to begin with. By Saturday morning I was really sore, but I felt great! I had accomplished what I really wanted to and it was nice to feel sore from working hard at something new. I swam after yoga to help loosen my arms, shoulders and back and it was really tough at first but I finally found a rhythm. I think it ultimately helped shorten my recovery time because by Sunday morning I was feeling good again. The best news is that it didn't hurt my ankle too much so I have the green light from my PT to keep going with it.
I did learn some things though during that 75 mins of sweating and grunting: my old knee injury is still there, just quieter, I am so, so tight in my hips, my quads are weak, and I need to focus on activating my deep abdominals throughout the day to retrain them because they're half asleep.
There's nothing quite like trying something "new" to keep you honest.
I did two different yoga videos (sunrise and core) this morning before work while the sun was rising red outside my windows. It took a few minutes to shake off sleep, but then I felt great. If I can't get out and run, this is the next best way to wake up.

posted from Bloggeroid

1 comment:

  1. You should come with me to Kula Yoga at least once, you'd love my favorite instructor, Jillian. She's super knowledgeable and very anatomical in her descriptions of poses but sooo very chill and "real"

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