Is Yoga for Me?

Most of my life yoga didn't really interest me. It seemed like it was something for super skinny, flexible people and focused on spiritual aspects I wasn't into. However, recently I find myself being more drawn to it. Sure I would love to be slim, but I would also like to be strong and flexible.

When I saw this post post on Operation Skinny Jeans last summer I wanted to be her. She looked so strong, graceful and beautiful as she did her poses in the park. She made me realize you don't have to have the "perfect" shape to practice yoga. Even though her blog is no longer active I would recommend reading through her old posts. She has some excellent things to say. I miss her blog.

Awhile back, I tried a yoga class with a friend at her gym. I liked it okay, but I was a bit overwhelmed by the more difficult poses and flow. I mostly wanted to lay on the mat and take a nap. The gym we belong to offers a couple of yoga classes and I have toyed with trying them for months, but still haven't made it to one.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing a little online "research" on beginning yoga. I watched some videos, read about various poses...and still didn't try it. I often get excited about something, do the research and then I guess my fear of failure kicks in and I don't give it a proper try.

Perhaps my niece read on my recent 2.0 post and saw that I wanted to pursue yoga. It wasn't long after she arrived at our house on Friday that she was talking about us doing yoga. So I pulled up some of the videos I had previously watched. (Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about yoga. I am simply sharing what we found online by searching yoga for complete beginners.)

We set up the laptop on the floor and started our first session Friday afternoon. The video we are using is Yoga For Complete Beginners - 20 Minute Home Yoga Workout! The workout itself was definitely for beginners, but still challenge me.

By the way every time I look at these pictures I get sidetracked by the floor. I love it even more every time I see it :)

On a side note, no sooner did I get the mat unrolled Zommie dashed over to claim it.

Evidently, she had a pose or two of her own she wanted to share. She takes her Downward Dog very seriously!

A website we found that had several options for beginners is Running with the Sunrise. Saturday evening we tried the poses on her Bedtime Yoga Poses post. Maybe that is why we both fell asleep during Empire Strikes Back. That king size bed is really coming in handy.

I liked the idea of doing the yoga on the bed, but in reality it feels a little too soft for several of the poses. For example, I tried the bridge and only got a sliver of daylight under my hiney. Truth is my niece had no problem putting lots of daylight between her and the bed, so I will keep working on it.

Thread the Needle. I am looking forward to becoming more flexible - mine didn't look anything like this :)

Reclined Pigeon - makes me laugh every time I hear the name.

Supine Twist - I remember my husband using this stretch in his Jiu Jitsu classes.

Since the weekend I have continued to do some yoga every day. I've done the bedtime yoga several times. While the dogs are outside in the morning, I have worked on some poses on the deck - warrior, tree, etc.

I am planning to do the video again this week. The first time I did the biggest issue was that my wrists hurt when I was in any position that put pressure on them. Apparently, they could use some strengthening. The tightness in my legs also made the crossed leg position very uncomfortable. I am looking forward to both of those becoming easier as I lose weight and get my muscles stretched and strengthened.

Now to the weigh-in...I lost 3.8 pounds. I am super excited about that. It has been a LONG time since I have put together a good week and am proud of the results. Next week's plan includes more of the same of what worked this week - tracking food, some yoga and. if the weather cooperates.some walking outside.


Linking up with Winter at Weigh-In Wednesday.