In my last yoga blog I mentioned that I never thought yoga would be for me. Now four weeks on I’m learning some of the names of the poses and beginning to understand more and more what my body is and isn’t capably of. Where I have no flexibility, and in which parts of my body I have some flexibility.
I like the fact that yoga is non-competitive. When everyone else is able to move in to a shoulder stand and I can hardly lift by bottom off the ground, I know that only through practice and perseverance will I ever get any better. I’m not sure I’d made it any easier by doing a big weights session on my arms, shoulders and back yesterday. But it was nice to stretch it off during the yoga session.
Today we did warrior I and I have a huge difference in my left side to my right side. My hips are not very flexible at all and trying to point my hips to the front and then raise my arms is a challenge.
But what is great is that, even though my range of movement is slight it is still challenging to me. Every week I try to rotate a little more, or open my hips out further.
I already understand that the development of my strength and flexibility is not something that is going to happen over night. This is a something I need to keep doing for the long term. Build my core strength, fix my posture (I have spent and continue to spend far too long sitting at a computer reaching forward to type) and develop my flexibility.
My balance is also something that I’m hoping will develop as my core strength improves. We moved on to the standing half lotus and I found that whilst I could balance, as soon as I lifted my arms I really had to engage my core to keep control of the balance. As we released out of it, I could really feel it in my core.
Unfortunately I need to take an enforced absence from the Haitha yoga class for a couple of weeks whilst I watch my daughter at a gymnastics competition and then take the family skiing. I’m hoping that even the last few weeks of yoga will help me with my skiing.
For the longer term, I’m already looking at next years ski season and wondering what my skiing will be like if I can keep up with the yoga. As an added incentive I’ll be turning 40 during the ski holiday next season and I don’t want that milestone to be one that proves to be a downward curve for strength, fitness and flexibility