Unexpectedly, yoga has given me confidence… in the way I move.
Some backstory: As I have gotten a little bit older, I have become more protective in the way I move. I frequently make sure that my posture is proper and I make sure that I’m not mindlessly bending in positions that could cause an injury. You know how it is… digging toys out from under couches or constantly picking stuff up off the floor.
A couple times I have bent over to pick up a doll and I tweaked my back. The tweak made life miserable for days. I now squat when picking up things, but there are many times I find myself in weird positions cleaning or carrying things or digging around cupboards. Or this(!)… I find that when I am getting my daughter out of her car seat (or strapping her into it) and tightening that belt while I’m in an awkward twist, I can’t help but think I’m perfectly primed for a tweak.
I lived life in such a way that I was a little guarded in my movements. I figured it came with the territory of getting older.
But something unexpected happened…
I’ve been doing yoga for a couple of months. I go once a week to Gainey Village’s Basic Yoga (Wendy is a very cool teacher), and I’ve also been doing Gloria’s Deep Stretch Meditation class once a week (at the DC Village location – Gloria, and her class, are beyond awesome and worth the price of club dues alone).
Basically, I’m getting some yoga and yoga-like / stretch movements twice a week for the past couple of months.
I knew it would increase flexibility and that was my goal. I figured the flexibility would come in the way that I can sit down and stretch or I can do the splits someday. But to be honest, I actually asked Greg one day if he thought yoga was a good idea with all of the weird moves. I was afraid of tweaking my hip or back or neck from yoga!
Turns out I was wrong.
One day last week I was moving in a weird way without thinking twice. A moment later, I thought, “OMG, I just twisted weirdly and I wasn’t scared. Ha!” I instinctively knew it was an unexpected benefit from my yoga and stretching.
Those yoga poses and the stretching have changed my body and, well, my life. Now, it gives me confidence with everyday moves, everyday. It just feels right. I feel right. How cool.
In case that’s not enough for you, I just received this in my inbox (good timing): 16 Healthy Reasons to Unroll Your Yoga Mat.