Random Thoughts On Yoga

Since the start of the year, I’ve gotten back into yoga.  I have the New U Yoga and Pilates game for Wii, which I played through and had great success with several years ago.   I’ve certainly done yoga long enough (since college), that I’m quite capable of practicing without a game or instruction, but frankly, I like not having to THINK about what comes next when I’m working out in the morning.  Just DOING it.

I’ve blown through three levels this week.  I think there are 3 more to go.  And I know my nemesis pose–CRANE–is coming.  But for now I’m enjoying where I am.  Oddly, I find my current level easier than the alleged easier levels.  It’s very heavy on the legwork–warrior poses and the like, which I do very well.  My lower body is a rock.  My upper body…I’m STRONG–I regularly deadlift 50 pounds in the form of Daisy several times a day–but that’s TOTALLY different from just holding your arms out for what feels like FOREVER.  I’m a total weenie when it comes to that.

It’s always amusing to me how yoga instructors seem all calm and centered and in the moment (and maybe they are)–and maybe the rest of us have this mental image of being the same, being all chill and mindful and having some kind of deep thoughts like a yogi in an ashram somewhere on a high mountaintop.   And then there’s the reality.

This morning, as I was going through this level’s variation on sun salutations, the instructor is all telling me to move from three legged dog to lunge, which, for me, entails nothing graceful, but rather this sort of upper body twist and lift of my outside hand in order to get my knee up under my chest.  It feels a little like being some kind of epileptic fish or something for a few seconds.  No yoga instructor ever looks like this.  Which prompted me to wonder if all yoga instructors (women anyway) are flat chested and have perfectly proportioned limbs?  Because my boobs (not THAT big) totally get in the way of lunges, and I can’t press my palms flat to the floor because my arms are short to match my short torso.  Downward dog is NEVER actually balanced right for me because of said short arms.

Anyway, despite the usual struggle to actually get out of bed and get going in the mornings, I never actually regret doing yoga (or any workout, for that matter).  My body feels looser and generally better.   So the getting out of bed part is the hardest part.  Would be harder without the pups.  As soon as they hear somebody stirring they’re like “MOMMY!  DADDY! BREAKFAST!”  And once you’re up to feed them, it’s usually like “I might as well work out.”  Well, except for yesterday, when I was 5 when I woke up and cold in the house and it was just way more appealing to crawl back into my still warm bed.  :snuggles:

8 thoughts on “Random Thoughts On Yoga

  1. I have a Yoga DVD that’s way too hard for me. (wimp) I would love to find something for the Wii that’s really for beginners. I used to have a paperback book years ago that had all the Yoga poses, and I got good enough at them to stand on my head. 🙂 Is the New U easy in the first levels? You know, I keep thinking I bought that one time…. I hate it when I can’t remember what I have. LOL

    1. I thought I remember you saying you’d bought it too, after I was talking about it the first time a few years ago. With New U, there are a lot of different tracks. I’m on the weight loss track. It doesn’t advance you until you’ve hit a certain level of mastery. Whether it’s easy or hard is kind of dependent on where you’re flexible/strong vs. not. And there’s also a custom class builder too where you can make it as easy or difficult as you like.

      1. *sigh* I have the CRS disease. I think I did buy it because we talked about one of the poses being too hard for me and you said it was because I had short arms like you or SOMETHING we had in common. I must dig this game out.

  2. Love yoga–HATE getting up when it’s this @#$%! cold–yep, that’s me! But I’ll short in the leg, log in the torso, and the twins are ALWAYS throwing off my weight distribution.

    Totally off topic, but did you see a Pitch Perfect 2 has been announced for 2015? EEE!!

  3. I’ve been thinking about trying Yoga or Pilates or both recently. Last March I fell and tore ligaments and took chunks out of my cartilage next to my knee. Long story short it took months to recover and I still need to have surgery but ever since the accident I’ve been slowly gaining weight. So, im looking for a low impact exercise where I wont stress my knee too much. I’ve never once tried Yoga or Pilates. Do you think either workout might be ok to check out with an injured knee?

    1. There will be some poses that will absolutely be off limits (the warrior series would probably kill your knee), but absolutely others that would probably be good to check out. It’s one of those things that would take some experimentation, and if it hurts, don’t do it.

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