A few years ago I gave up smoking and took up yoga. If you do yoga, then you probably know how surprisingly difficult but ultimately satisfying it can be. Yoga is a unique form of exercise, I think, because it’s about the whole person. When you practice, you are attending to your mind and spirit, as well as your body. It can be transformative.
I’m not sure how it happened-a missed practice here, something somewhere was sore, I skipped another practice there- but one day I just completely fell off the yoga wagon. I stopped going.
I started walking. Walking was great, too, and can also be meditative.
I walked quite a lot during vacation. When I came back from vacation, I stopped. After the peaceful sand beaches, and beautiful mountain trails, my urban neighborhood sidewalks could not hold my attention.
Eventually, my pants issued a formal complaint and refused to meet me in the middle. When pants start complaining you might as well do what they want because they won’t stop bitching until you do. You could buy new pants. Quieter pants. But they will eventually do the same exact thing.
So I’ve resumed my yoga practice. I hope, this time, for good. My down dog is looking a little ragged but it’s good to have her back.
Perfect Form! (borrowed from Democratic Underground)
Chicken's Consigliere 
Welcome back to the yoga wagon! Our article on keeping a home yoga practice might be helpful 🙂 http://yogaoneblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/6-ways-to-build-a-home-yoga-practice/
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great article, thanks yogaone:-)
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Namaste, b*tches. 😉 GG
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that’s the spirit, gg
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I always thought pants were troublemakers. Maybe they’re just mother-substitutes, caring about your health and welfare and not afraid to heckle you about it. Good on you for listening to your mother-substitute!
Years ago I took a yoga class and I was so skinny and limber that it didn’t require much effort from me. Or maybe it was a watered-down version. Since then I think yoga classes have evolved into something much more demanding. I really doubt I could do it now because so many of my joints have gone geriatric on me – hands, wrists, hips. Do they have elder yoga, do you know?
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Jenny, if you are bendy, don’t lose it! yoga has accommodations for all kinds of people
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Good for you. Never ever buy a larger pants size. It’s just a slippery slope to hell.
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Jayne-that would have been good to know 4 years ago. But it ends today. No more lines in the sand. Pants ain’t afraid of anything
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Never tried yoga, or tempted, really. Did run for years, 10K to once a marathon. Only once. Enjoyed it somewhat, more a habit than anything. Once the ankle thing happened running was out, as was anything requiring more than an hours walking. I like the idea of a meditative experience, however it comes, exercise or whatever. I’m currently meditating on why jet lag is lasting so long.
The Italians take on our elections is interesting, lot’s of questions to me on the ‘why’ of it. I tell them I’m as befuddled as anyone.
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Hi Mike-I was a runner, too, through my 20s and early 30s. I gave it up at one point when life got a little overwhelming and something had to go. I regret not at least maintaining some kind of base because i never got back into it as a regular habit again. Yoga is great for runners from what I hear. Quite a few people in my classes also run. Politics…it’s just a befuddling topic. I would venture a guess that Italian politics are no walk in the park, either. Welcome home. Or are you home? Are you recovering from jet lag in Italy? If so, safe travels.
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Heading back tomorrow, jet lag got over after a couple days.
My athletic days are kind of a comfort to me now, rather than anything else. It’s enough now, nearing the 70 ‘milestone’ that I could once dunk a basketball, run a 10K sub-38mins.
The, rather mine, issue now is looking at musculature, legs, etc. remembering what they once were.
I seem rather at the middle of the pack in terms of aging……..better than some, not equal to the 75 year old marathon runners. It’s a long, slow, slide, to the………
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Wow, sub 38 is really good! I always found the 10K distance the hardest. I either did 10 and up races or 5Ks. I have another friend who, like you, ran mostly out of habit for years but then got into hiking and eventually loved the hiking more than the running. My running club in Maine had an 80 year old ultra marathoner. He was pretty amazing and inspirational, I think I remember hearing that he started running in his 50’s after giving up alcohol and smoking.
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I’ve never taken yoga, but my mom did when I was a kid. She showed me a simple set of standing stretches that only took a minute or two to do, but left my body feeling limber and ready, and my mind feeling calm and alert. They were a great help back when I used to race motorcycles, and I also liked to do them before I played guitar. I haven’t been able to do them since my stroke in 2008 screwed up my sense of balance and impaired the movement of my left leg. I’ve been working hard for six years to try and get functional again, but those stretches have always been just a little more than I could manage. This post made me curious, though, and I got up and tried them again. They’re still kinda scary, and I can’t do the last part where you lift your knee up high and hold it there, but I otherwise made it through them. It felt sort of timid and weak. but that is something I can work on, and maybe if I have something solid to hold on to I can get the knee thing to happen.
So I guess I recommend doing what you can while you can because a day might come when you can’t anymore and you wish you had.
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Hi doug-I wonder if she taught you sun salutations? Those are my favorite. I’m not sure about the knee in the air. Maybe tree pose? I struggle with that one. I’m glad you got up and tried them-maybe you can work your way back a little. I also take a yoga class called Yin Yoga that’s pretty much all done sitting on your mat and you hold the poses for three minutes each. You wouldn’t need balance for that. I didn’t know that you had suffered a stroke. I’m sorry. That must have been so scary.
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The stretches might have been a pre-class limber up kind of thing; they never seemed to me to be particularly yoga-like. But that’s where my mom learned them, so I’ve always assumed they were yoga related.
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Oh, I am the very same way. I do something for a while, a good long while, and then one day BLAMMO! I never do it again.
Yoga: it really is all about the quieter pants. And not shrinking, height-wise.
Pearl
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Yoga pants are kind of arrogantly quiet, though, don’t you think? Like, I’m quiet but in a totally enlightened way that you sweat pants could attain if only you’d try harder.”
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My wife has done Yoga exercises for about 20 years and has gained nearly an inch in height. I’ve heard this happens sometimes.
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Hi Geo-are you pulling my leg? Is it getting any longer?
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A long time ago, I tried yoga for a while. I had no idea that it was such good exercise. Maybe I’ll try to do some at home.
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Hi Pat-thanks for visiting. I didn’t know either until all of a sudden the weight started dropping off and I started getting stronger!
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I loved this.
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thank you:-) With your eating discipline and my yoga, maybe we could get back to cheerleader status again. Although, I just got a mental picture of a 50-something cheerleader (me,not you, unless it is also you) and it was a little disconcerting. Maybe I’ll just aspire to smaller jeans.
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