practice yoga daily

It’s soooo hard to get out of bed early during the cold months! It’s just so cozy and warm in my bed, feels so good… compared to the shock of the cold room after exiting the covers! :(
Regardless…it’s no excuse. Just because I prefer the mornings, doesn’t necessarily mean I must do this in the mornings. There are plenty of other opportune times I could be doing this, I just need to recognize one and then seize it!

So, I fell out of the habit when a certain someone started taking up my mornings… but, I’m trying to get back in the habit.
I had a dream that I was able to lay my head down on my knees and in my dream, that felt so cool – i have to work harder to get there!
I was up this morning and stretching by 6:45 and it felt great. Must keep it up!

over the weekend, i was going thru my usual routine one night, and while the downward dog is not always part of my routine, i throw it in there sometimes. well, at my house, before bed i was feeling kind of tight and wound up, so i decided to do as much as i could. i slowly shifted into the downward dog and to my surprise, i was able to put my heals on the floor! i was so stoked! it only took a year, but i can finally do it!

So, while in WI for a family emergency, I don’t remember how or why it came up, (maybe I was telling dad about my dream in which I could touch my nose to my knees or something), but I showed my dad and my sister just how far past my toes I can finally reach! I can almost put my toes on my wrists and fold my hands over the bottom of my feet! My toes actually come to that fleshy part between the wrist and the palm, but at least I’m gettin there! It felt so good because my sister had mentioned something to me about doing some yoga when we got to the house, but yet when I showed her how far past my toes I can touch both her and dad said they could barely touch their toes at all! HAHAHAH! No way she does yoga on any regular basis! She just likes to be seen as trendy and she’ll say things even if she doesn’t actually do them just so other people will think she’s all healthy and trendy… LOL!

I can tell a difference when I do my yoga routine and when I don’t. After a couple days of skipping the routine I feel tight, my back feels tight and cracks a lot more often, and I lose my balance a lot easier.
I am definitely seeing and feeling results and have gotten to the point that when I skip my routines, I miss them. I never thought the day would come that I missed working out (be it yoga, pilates or the elliptical) but that day has finally come! i’m glad for it.

The other night, I had a dream that I was finally able to touch my nose to my knees! I know I’m getting close but the reality of the situation is that it took me a year to get this far, and it’ll probably take me another year to get to that point. But that’s ok… b/c good things come to those who wait!

i can totally tell now that i’ve been stretching for the better part of a year! even in the cold mornings when i’m stiff and tight i can still reach my toes without having to ease into it but then i ease into it and i can reach even further and it’s such a great feeling: knowing i wasn’t nearly this flexible in january and seeing how far i’ve come is an instant motivator! i feel graceful, i feel long and tall, i feel healthy! there isn’t anything about stretching that i don’t like (except the fact that i’mnot very flexible to begin with!)

I don’t know why or how I fell out of habit to begin with but I did! :( However, this week, I’ve been successful at doing more than just yoga in the morning… I’ve added some ankle weights while I do a couple pilates moves to get my flood flowing in the morning. I was even on the elliptical on Tuesday for 25 minutes (fell out of that habit too – pissed b/c I was doing sooo well!). I think that doing the elliptical every other day and doing some strength training will help me obtain my goal of shedding body fat and toning up my muscles. I’m feeling a little sore today, but it’s the oh-yea-that-feels-so-good kind, not the oh-so-painful-it-hurts-to-move kind. It’s the kind you feel when you know what you’re doing is working. I’ve been alternating days lower body/upper body, but always doing yoga and some kind of weights every morning and ellipticalling it up every other day. I just gotta keep it up now! I can do it!

Once you start, it’s addicting! More than 4 times a week, I’ve been doing gentle stretches and yoga in the mornings, between 6:30 and 7:30. Most of the time, I don’t want to stop to get ready for work, I’d prefer to just continue doing yoga all day long! I can feel the benefits now, after 4 or 5 months, even just walking – I can tell I stand up straighter, walk more gracefully! I guess that’s it, I just all around feel more graceful – even when I’m just reaching high up in the pantry for something on the top shelf. My balance has improved, even my complexion has improved! I love this!

so i’ve been stretching no less than 3 times a week since about january! and i’m finally, yes finally – 5 months later – feeling the benefits! i can tell i’m leaner, i can tell i’m stronger, i can tell i’m using correct body posture more to do everything from lounge around to arranging furniture! it’s very exciting and it only makes me want to continue incorporating new postures into my routine!