A week ago I started a new chapter in this weight loss journey. I decided to give yoga a try. And let me tell you, this yoga thing has been a crazy adventure thus far. I have already learned to much about my body! But lets see how the first few yoga sessions have gone!
I am doing Yoga With Adriene, which can be found on Youtube. I like her style. She is laid back and shows modifications for the moves. She also encourages us and says that it doesn’t matter where you are….just do it. So it is easy to struggle through the sessions with her because she is so ‘accepting’. Yeah, I know…it’s crazy because I feel accepted by a youtube video!
I started doing yoga because I know that it is said to really tone and shape the body. I also know that a lot of the moves would be beneficial to my bike riding...I figured it would be a win win!
The first few days were atrocious! I was hurting. I was hurting BAD. The first day was great….until about 10 minutes in and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. That this yogo stuff wasn’t for a sissy! It was hard!
Day two and I was so relieved to see the title of the video was Gentle and soothing. Let me tell you there was nothing gentle and soothing about that crap! I was sweating bullets and in misery!
And it didn’t get better! My legs shake. My arms quiver. My stomach clenches! I am dripping sweat! The struggle is real! I constantly question myself. Why am I waking up early to torture myself? Because seriously…that is what this is. Torture!
And one of my more recent text messages with my accountability buddy.
I did decide to forego yoga on the weekends. It just seemed wise since the mountain bike rides are already giving me a full body workout! I may revisit this in the future but for right now I am ok with this decision to step away from the yoga torture for just a day or two each weekend.
But seriously, what lessons have I learned? Here they are in a bullet point style format.
· Apparently, I have no balance! I am in danger of toppling over quite a bit of the time. In fact one day I was rather close to the TV and I feared that I would fall and break the television!
· I am super excited to see how my body changes and becomes stronger.
· The arm issue that I have struggled with for months is almost totally gone after only two weeks of stretching with yoga.
· Watching a short video of myself (and actually posting it on Youtube) was a lesson in humility!
· I have absolutely NO flexibility! None! My body just doesn’t bend!
· Yoga is difficult with a fat flabby belly getting in the way.
· It’s not so bad to wake up at 4:45 in the morning to do yoga…..it’s kind of relaxing in a sweaty achy sort of way.
· My muscles in my legs are SUPER tight and not at all stretchy and loose!
· I’m toying with buying a yoga block for this experiment.
•. I realized it is more than ok to do the moves with modifications...I’ll improve the more I do it.
· I always believed my legs to be strong….WRONG!
· Downward dog….cobra….warrior……I’m learning all the poses. It’s not pretty (yet) but I’m attempting them all!
· This should make me a strong mountain biker
· You CAN work up a sweat with simple yoga poses.
I don’t see progress yet….but I’m not giving up. I’ve committed to 30 days of yoga. It should have been one month…but it will be closer to a month and a half due to my weekends off. I’m excited to see the changes that may happen. I’m looking forward to being strong. I’m tickled to see how this equates to me being a stronger rider on my bike. This can only be good….right?
