So Far, So Good

I’ve managed to get my yoga on every day since I posted about my self challenge, except for one day when I went for a walk instead. Doing the practice after work is good–it gets all those nasty kinks out after sitting and typing all day.  I’m once again struggling with neck/shoulder issues, but right now just can’t manage the cost of the chiro.  Maybe next pay period.  I’m working some overtime which helps the bottom line, but not the neck.  G strong hands and large amounts  of ibuprofen keep me going. 

This week I needed to pick a new practice routine but I haven’t had time to sit down with all the magazines, so I fell back on my go-to routine instead.  I found this one in a YJ issue several years ago and fell in love with it. I think maybe it was the model they used–she looks like a real person, fit and toned, but with a body I could relate to, not some anorexic pretzel that I’ll never be.  I’ve done this series enough that I no longer need to look at the pictures but it’s always a challenge even though I can do each of the poses (I rest my forearm on my bent knee in #3).  I also made it a bit more difficult by adding half-moon pose in between #3 and #4.  THAT is a challenging pose–hard, hard, hard, and I use a 4-legged stool to prop on for security.  My yoga room is so small that if I fell, I’d likely break something, either myself or something precious, so I use a lot of props when I need to. I try to hold each pose for at least 5 breaths–long enough to really feel it.  This series works and stretches my entire body, opens my hips, releases my cramped side muscles, everything.  I really, really feel good doing it.  I may do it for the rest of the week or I may go for something different and work on my arms.  Either way, I can’t go wrong.

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