Category Archives: Yoga

My interest in Yoga was sparked about 9 years ago.  The one thing I asked for for Christmas was a yoga tape.  I had to have a yoga tape!  Well…like most other things at that point in my life, I had great intentions but never followed through.  I popped the tape in and sat watching it with a bowl of Doritos on my lap.  My thought was I should first ‘watch’ the tape to see if I would enjoy it, or could do it.   I came to the conclusion that it was boring and wouldn’t do much for me.

About 2 years later, I thought…well…let’s take another look at this.  Still, nothing felt exciting.  Kinda blah.

Then, over the last, oh 6 years or so, I became fascinated with ancient cultures.  I read everything I could and studied theories and histories and delved into anything ancient.  More recently I became aware of Yoga again, but this time with the understanding of ‘what’ it is, and ‘why’ it’s practised.  So my interest was renewed and for the right reasons.

So I’ve been practising yoga now every morning.  I figured I get up early anyhow, why not take this chunk of time to do something for myself?  It was the perfect ‘fit’.

The very first time I watched my tape, about 5 minutes into it, one of the instructors was laying on the floor and I noticed they had hairy arm pits.  My first inclination was to grab my camera and take of pic of this chicks hairy pits so I could blog about it.  I didn’t, but for the remaining 40 minutes of the tape that’s all I could think about.  (So much for focus and concentration).  I did notice however the next day, that the ‘chick’ was actually a man…I just didn’t notice the first time around.  So the hair wasn’t a big issue anymore.

The next day I was excited to get started!  And….about 1/2 way through….Shane wakes up early.  Ughhhh.  So as the instructor was speaking calmly and quietly trying to reinforce my focus and concentration…I was listening to coffee mugs clinging and doors opening and closing.  And the feeling that eyes were watching me was confirmed when he asked, “How’s the yoga goin?”   It was actually incredibly irritating and I couldn’t find my happy place any longer.  I think the evil stink eye that I gave signaled that maybe he should just not wake up early anymore.  Ever.

The following day wasn’t much different.  *sigh*   Again, shortly after the start of the tape as I was doing downward dog….I noticed an ant crawling across the carpet in front of me.  So I had to take a piece of paper and smack the ant.  After that all I could think of was that I hadn’t seen an ant in the house in like 2 years…where did he come from?  Were there more?  Anyhow, I finished the tape but again, was disappointed that I let myself be distracted.

I have also determined that I’m completely out of shape.  My body is so NOT limber.  Flexibility is NOT in my body’s abilities.  Either that…or my legs are just abnormally long and I’m not designed to touch my toes without bending my knees.  Not.  Ever.  But that’s okay.  Like anything else in life, this too shall pass and one day maybe when I’m like 60, I’ll be able to touch my toes.  I just have to practice.

It took me a couple days but I finally got into the swing of it and I actually enjoy this time in the morning.   I always wanted to go to a yoga class, but I think I’ll hold off on that a bit until I learn some more positions first.  Plus, for some reason yoga makes me fart.  I don’t know if it’s the relaxation or the stretching or what, but it just slips on out.   That’s all I need is to join a class and be tootin away in front of a bunch of strangers, breaking not only wind but every one’s concentration.

I have also stopped using my tape and have found a few beginning yoga videos online for free that are really helpful.   I would refer you to a couple but I think that every one’s different and maybe it would be best to poke around yourself and see what you feel is a good fit for you.