I did yoga today at my gym. I looked up the schedule last week and decided to treat my body to this ancient practice.I'm looking for things to help take tension away from my neck and was inspired to try this.
Inspiration, indeed.
It was one hour of "gentle yoga" and it was an hour well spent. It wasn't too strenuous (helps that I'm limber, probably) though some poses did challenge me and during some my trapezius muscle, lower between the shoulder blades burned a little. At the end of the hour I noticed that my shoulders were completely relaxed. No pain! Wow! When does that happen? Not even after a massage do I feel like that.
It has brought up an interesting point in my life, to me: do I breathe? I feel like I hold my breath or take shallow breaths.
I also noticed during the class how negative my thoughts are towards myself. Because I was so focused on getting these poses right, the only left in my thoughts were of how I looked when doing the poses. I assume some of the weight on my shoulders comes from stress I give myself from this "stinkin' thinkin'" and I'm going to put a stop to that. Because stress...well, it's not so great for the body. There's already enough stress in the day; I don't need it coming from me.
So, three goals I made today:
1.) Continue yoga at least once a week. (My gym offers two classes that I could fit in.)
2.) Breathe. Really Breathe.
3.) Start talking nicely to myself.
2 comments:
Kim, you didn't include here how you sweated in your first 'soft yoga' class. Yoga seems benign, and your poses shouldn't be strained, the body tells you what it can do. The opposite of the stressers/strains of Western exercise. So glad you're doing Yoga, where mind and body become one.
Mom
Isolate your diaphragm and learn to expand, contract it. It IS hard to breathe correctly! Especially when busy, stressed, hurried, anxious. Oh, sorry--negative self-talk not allowed here! :)
Mom/Carol
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