Yoga 101

It has been proven that many of life's "normal" physical ailments can actually be prevented or cured with regular yoga. Those unfamiliar may disbelieve, but to them I ask, "Have you tried it?" I've seen a near crippled war veteran sprinting away after a successful course of simple yoga. If you're inspired, click here for some very basic poses you can start yourself on. Mastering those will give you confidence to press these poses further into more challenging ones.

I'm returning once again to yoga myself. In the short term, I'm working on regaining some flexibility lost after stopping the back bending and inverted poses during pregnancy last year. I've lately been feeling stiff, like the "I'm gettin' old!" sort of stiff, and those dang restless legs are still restless. Yoga will help these, and I also want to work on the following:

- Endurance

- Wrist strength

- Lower back & hamstring flexibility

- Balance

- Focus (Lord knows how many directions my brain goes in a day)

I'm going to highlight my progress with a series of blogs hoping to inspire others to take up this "hippie" sport. Don't be dissuaded by the complexity of these (mind, I have a leg up having been a gymnast), but I encourage all, young and old, men and women, to start slow. I'll show my own progress through photography. I decided to do this after realizing that tweaking my form with a second eye to the mirror is counterproductive to focus and balance. I will be photographing my successful poses. 

Halsana: Many a childhood day saw this one littered around the living room floor. A great relax-the-back pose to counter poses which bend the opposite way. 

Handstand: Nothing strengthens wrists more than balancing the weight of your body on them.
I need more balance work; my record stand is only 4 seconds.

Standing Bow Pulling: I initially mastered this less than a decade ago (just re-achieved it post-pregnancy).
Practice within the confines of corporate restroom stalls worked great - to quench work boredom and also rejuvenate mid afternoon sluggishness.

I'm still working on my lower back to get the bow pulling a tighter circle, and separately working on a similar position where the raised back leg is completely straight.

Other than flexibility, I feel like balance is my area of improvement right now. Holding a standing position for longer duration (endurance!) will help get me there.

More updates when I master the next thing!