Category Archives: Yoga

If Only I Believed In Reincarnation

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In my next life, I’d go to school, become a chiropractor, start yoga young, give all my friends free adjustments all the time, and get hired by an awesome indie rock band that took me on tour with them to balance partying with yoga and back cracking.

I had to go to the super nasty valley to take our car to the ‘doctor’. Of course there was a bunch of $ crap wrong with it, and they gave me a little loaner with hamsters working the engine to run around in. I went out shopping in a rather uniquely trashy part of the valley. I got bored pretty quickly so I found a highly recommended chiropractor on my phone and got right in.

Last summer I hurt my back doing one of those pull up stomach crunch machines. It only hurt sometimes, when I’d ski wrong or move heavy stuff around the house. But all the yoga twisting reminded me I really needed to get it looked at. More recently, I knew I had done something to my neck as well. In Austin I had the most fantabulous chiropractor ever. There was nothing like going to see her after three weeks of leaning over my work desk typing on my computer. She realigned my spine every time it fell into the work desk rut. I hadn’t been since – four years or more.

I feel like a million gazillion bucks today. My neck WAS really messed up – and me sleeping on it in pain and trying to relieve the pain myself was making it worse. He fixed that, took care of my back injury, and gave me some tips for the future. A+ all around, except where he mentioned I might calm the yoga down if it was beyond my ability, since my body was pretty tense and tight, the opposite of what I’m going for. That was humbling and hilarious.

Call It Power Hour

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You can’t really tell me this is only the fourth time that I’ve done yoga. It feels like ages ago I started. Well, I still fall over and do every modified version (which is not a good thing, it’s the weaker style). It’s just so amazing. I breathe better. I stretch better. I’m getting limber. I can sleep better!

I can’t believe how tough my workout was today.

Yesterday I did weights, so I was already a little sore, but this was intense. I really, really like super-slow-make-your- muscles-shake-stuff. And you can do it too! As long as if you do, you lie and tell me it was tough, even if it wasn’t.

If you have netflix, and can watch instantly, this is the video I did (click the pic for a detailed Amazon link):

Doing these videos at home has given me a little confidence and a little apprehension. I’ll go back the the gym/yoga studio eventually, and won’t be too nervous to try new things and know I might suck, but at least I get that everyone will be at a different level anyway (I hope) and not judgemental at all. I’d like to learn how to not slip all over the place and get a little more strength before I try another challenging class. I’ll admit here, I had to take two pauses to get through this hour, and the suggestion to do it on an empty stomach just made me growly half way through. Yoga and learn.

Yoga + Pilates

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My third hour of yoga was a core workout. Apparently that means a reminder you don’t have one, as you try to keep up with crazy side to side and front to back flow and hold moves that make you find parts of your core that go waaay beyond your abs.

Pilates is Greek for twisty torture. The core is so much more that the one little ab muscle you feel during a sit up. It has sides and fronts and backs and in between bits. Woah.

Sitting even a little sideways feels funny. I can’t not be stretching it out since it all got so worked out. It feels really rad.

My energy has been way up, and I did a weight workout yesterday and another one today after yoga and felt pretty great. We’ll see if I can feel anything in a couple days.

It’s true what a trainer friend of mine said, “The hardest thing about exercise is to start doing it. Once you are doing exercise regularly, the hardest thing is to stop it.”

I might not be a regular yet, but the endorphins are flowing me and reminding me I’ve never felt better than when I’m working out, and once you get back in to it, the rewards exponentially increase.

Beginning Yoga

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I just finished my second full hour of yoga. Fortunately for MK, this isn’t the kind of thing I need a new wardrobe for, and I already own a mat. In addition, there are a ton of DVDs I can watch on Netflix instantly. Because this is what I do: enjoy something, decide to be hooked, and then spend more time shopping for accessories than doing the actual workout or sport. I think that’s a typical girl thing…

I have spent some time online reading up on the whole deal, and don’t see myself going much further than the basics, but this is me two hours in. We’ll see in a couple of months. My first class was at a gym here, and I thought it was pretty easy. Until two days later, when the backs of my legs and all the things I had stretched out and felt some heat on were aching. But a good ache. Then we had company and a trip to Vegas and a day in bed to recover from Vegas, but I was eager to try again. I just did 5 10-minute videos to try some different things. It was definitely challenging and already rewarding.

As a short little thing, I feel like I walk taller and have more grace after yoga. I feel full, breathe well, and totally sleep like a baby. That’s enough benefits to keep me coming back. I look forward to this new journey and sharing it with you – I have no idea what I’m supposed to keep track of or how I know if I’m improving, so feel free to share if you know more than I do!