yoga

Posted on | October 20, 2007 | No Comments

i’ve been doing some yoga lately and cannot believe how good i feel.

i live in a remote-ish place, so don’t have a fabulous pool of yoga classes handy.
however, i find yoga has so many things going on at once (even with the simplest asanas) that it really helps to have an instructor.
i need to be reminded to focus on various things, at frequent intervals.
enter the yoga dvd!
i have quite the collection of beginner yoga dvds and i love them all.
i play them on the computer and roll out a yoga sticky mat in my small office and thirty minutes later i’m feeling all relaxed and worked-out and zen.

some titles for the yoga-phobic to consider:
yoga just my size, with megan garcia (very gentle, really good intro to yoga)
yoga for inflexible people….interactive and you can choose your routine.
yoga for stress relief….interactive, with a 30 min feature from the dalai lama on how to meditate
yogazone….any of their beginner series is great

i’ve noticed something quite profound from my practice: even if you are very inflexible and doing almost nothing detectable to the naked eye, you still get ALL the yoga benefits.
i’ve been back in the yoga saddle for three weeks now and cannot believe how joints have loosened up and muscles have lengthened even in that short time and even doing the very gentle yoga i’ve been doing.
i also find i sleep so much more soundly, and good quality sleep is what it is ALL about.

i splashed out on some equipment: foam blocks and a strap and a yoga cushion.
i’ve been making do with folded blankets and big books, but it isn’t the same.
a nice high-density foam block is so much kinder!

if anyone is thinking about starting yoga, i cannot urge you strongly enough to make the time and do it.
you don’t need to wrap your legs around your neck or be super strong to begin with.
you just have to be breathing and focusing, and turn the phone off for thirty minutes.

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