A to Z Challenge - Y

A to Z Challenge – Y

Y is for Yoga.

At one point in my life, the fittest I ever was – I was doing Yoga everyday…sometimes twice a day. I have recently been trying to get it back in my life. I love the way my body feels, I love the way my mind feels when I am doing it.

I am going to tell you flat out, I am not into the spiritual part of yoga that everybody thinks about – new age, crystals, etc…but I am into the relaxation and the breathing, the connection with my body. One thing that I know about myself is that I need that time that I give to myself, to take care of myself. I enjoy the flowing movement, the breathing, the power that I am able to develop in my core by these few simple movements. ‘Cause trust me – I am not a “yogi,” my movements and my practice are SIMPLE!

Day before yesterday I pulled out one of my covered in dust DVD’s, put on some comfy clothes and went to it. I couldn’t find my yoga mat that I had purchased many years ago, according to wonderful hubby it is probably in the garage hidden underneath goodness knows what…Perhaps I will find it, someday – but I wasn’t going to put it off like I did last week (or even like I did on MONDAY!). I needed to do this.

I did it, my feet slipped all over the rug. I couldn’t grip my toes into ground to save my hamstring! Needless to say, I ended up very SORE and did not do any Yoga yesterday!

So, today I was on the hunt for a new Yoga mat (buried underneath goodness knows what Yoga mat, just DOES NOT appeal to me!). I wasn’t looking for anything fancy and I had a $15 coupon for JC Penney’s, no Yoga mats there – but an AWESOME pair of sunglasses and a cute, cute top! I thought about going to Barnes and Nobles, but I was really getting down to the wire and had a very LIMITED budget – so I went to Target (closer and probably CHEAPER!).

I ended up with a $10 plain mat, it was a hard choice for $10 more I could have had one with butterflies on it…but, I went for economy!

Today was much better – I could grip my toes, I could do Warrior poses without worrying that my feet were going to slide. I was able to relax and enjoy (as much as a person can while sweating) the poses and let the breath guide me.

Why, if I enjoy this so much don’t I do it more…why did I stop? Simple answer, several years ago – I fell. Not while doing Yoga, but while running to the phone on Christmas morning (my first Christmas morning without my Pop and Tart) and I slipped on the floor and fell. Rammed into the doorframe – dislocated my shoulder, fractured my elbow, bruised my hip and really jacked up my wrist. That pretty much put an end to it. That was way, way, way back in 2002 – almost 9 years ago!

I healed up as much as I could, my wrist was still not what it should have been, then I developed Herbert in my foot – who is Herbert, check this out and you will find out – now, he is not as angry and I am trying to get back into it.

So – Y is for Yoga…I’ll keep you posted.

What do You do to help your body and mind?

Live, Laugh, Love ~

Vanilla Mama