A Week of Yoga

My body kind of hates me. 
And I decided to try yoga for a week. Because, sometimes, I make some silly decisions. This one, though, was silly to start with and then turned into a fantastic one.

Of course, though, this isn't done in a gym or anything (leave my house for more than I have to? No thanks), but at home, using an app on my phone. The app I'm using is Daily Yoga - Get Fit & Relaxed, and the "course" I started with was "Yoga during Menstruation" because that sounded like the kind of thing that could come in handy. The course is 7 days/sessions long, and each day has it's own video to watch that you follow along with.

And those 7 days and sessions have passed and now I'm onto the beginner course (which, really, I should have started with, but oh well).
Because, well, it was actually enjoyable. And I'm wanting to do more.
But, a few things I learned from this past week - some surprising, some not.

First: each session is about 20 minutes long. I have 20 minutes to spare each day (and then some, really), and there's no travel time to account for, no getting ready other than starting the app and getting headphones to hear the video with. Which is my kind of commitment level.

Second: some of the sessions ended with laying on the floor for two or three minutes. Yeah, no, I'm serious. There's a "pose" called "corpse pose" and it's laying on the floor on your back. And some of the videos had you end with that, for a few minutes, with your eyes closed, just laying and breathing. And while I didn't know any of that going into it, this information certainly would have helped me make the decision to start a lot sooner! Because this lying on the floor was actually part of the run time of the session for the day - so a 20 minute session that has 3 minutes at the end of lying on the floor is even less exhausting.

Third: my posture is crap. I mean absolute crap. My back has hurt more frequently this past week because of this nonsense. However, it's only hurt while trying to have good posture. And once the session is over, and I'm back to slouching, I'm fine. I have been, however, trying to make more of an effort to sit at least halfway decently throughout the day. As I'm typing this up, my back is killing me, but only because I'm trying to have good posture (or, at least, better posture).

Fourth: my body is just, really, not all that great. There are some stretches or poses or whatever you want to call them that I just cannot do. My body doesn't move that way. So I do as much of each stretch as I can, for as long as I can manage for that bit, and have been hoping for the best. And from what I've heard and read, that's pretty much par for the course - do what you can, adjust for what you can't, and build up to it. A lot of the stretches that involve sitting on the floor with your legs stretched out I have a problem with - it kills the back of my knees. The voice over lady kindly suggests bending your knees if your back hurts too much for those kinds of stretches, which I laughed at because my problem was my knees, not my back.

Fifth: it's actually a pretty darned good way to start the day. For the most part (6 of the 7 days) I did the session for the day shortly after getting up and out of bed. It also helps that this means the dogs are still in bed (because the Mister is still in bed) and they won't be thinking that I'm on the floor to play or pet or love on them. But it's just relaxing enough to do while still groggy, while also enough movement to actually be awake and ready to get things done by the time the session is over.

Sixth: it's really easy to not be aware of what your body is capable of. I had no idea my flexibility was so bad. But, it truly is. And that's kind of sad, really. I was never very flexible when I was a kid (when a person is usually the most bendy), but what I could do is no longer an option! And while flexibility may not be something you think about being important, I'm learning that's not the case. Bending over, for example - you can do it with your knees or with your back...or, with your hips. Your legs can stay straight, and your back can stay straight, and you can just bend over from your hip region. Well, okay, some people can. I cannot really do that yet. I can get a little ways, and then my back wants to get all curled over. But, just like with anything else, practice makes perfect (or, at least, progress) and maybe at some point in the future I'll be able to bend over and touch the floor again. Because that'd be cool.

Seventh: deep breathing is kind of amazing. Deep breaths, through your nose, with your inhalations and exhalations equal in length...that's some magic shit right there. Which is a weird thing to say. Because I've been frustrated or angry or just instantly livid, and have tried the whole breathing and counting to ten nonsense before...and it was just that, nonsense. I figured it would still be nonsense, even paired with the stretches, but that's not the case. Abdominal breathing, the app calls it, and it's just that - breathing with the use of your abs. It's just complicated enough that you have to think about it, if you're not used to it, sort of like the meme about manual breathing or blinking (#sorrynotsorry). And, therefore, just complicated enough that you have to actually think about that and focus on it to be able to do it, which helps clear anything else from cropping up.

Eighth: it's made me find more yoga to do. I've started the beginner course with this app, and have downloaded another app (Track Yoga) that I'm doing in the evenings, which is very similar - 20-ish minute sessions, multiple courses you can "take" with videos to work along with. This second app is, so far, even heavier in the laying on the floor for a few minutes at the end of a session, so it's great to do in the evenings about an hour or two before bed.

I don't have any life changing results to share after only 7 days, but I do know that it has been worth the time and effort so far. I'm looking forward to continuing it, and hopefully regaining some range of motion, even.
And while my body still hates me, maybe it will hate me less as time goes on. That's all I'm really hoping for.

What about you? Have you tried yoga before? Did you enjoy it?

~ Havok

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[Edit 5/22/2016: Added to The Creative Gallery link up]