exercize regularly

I was coming off a migraine after work yesterday… felt drugged and out of my body. But when I got home, I walked. I walked out of anger, I walked quickly and I broke into a sweat. It felt good.

I walked four times last week. Two times on my normal route, once while waiting for girls night, and I hiked while camping most of the weekend.

It was girls night out last night. I arrived at the bar and received a message from my friend that she would be 20 min. late. In the past, I would have just gone in and waited… but I took the opportunity to take a walk. I discovered a hidden oasis, right in the middle of the town I live in. It was so enjoyable. I took some pictures, and walked.

I walked yesterday with another person. Not enjoyable. I need it as my alone time then I enjoy it so much. So, lesson learned. That was twice so far this week.

Ok… I walked 3x last week, I started walking yesterday and got caught in a downpour. Then I went to goodwill and bought a yoga dvd. I also perused the on demand section of my cable and there are yoga how-to videos, plus pilates, and a stripper workout. Sounds fun! The goal is still 4x per week.

I walked a lot on Tuesday, on my lunch. Yesterday I walked to 7-11, and tonight I am planning to walk to my favorite park and explore. Might even take my camera and try some creative photography.

I decided to change this goal to something more general, rather than try to do one specific activity which, often times, can get tedious after a while, I am just going to shoot to exercise regularly, whether it be running, pilates, or yoga, etc. (for my purposes I will define “regularly” as at least four times a week for twenty minutes or more, which would be at least an hour of exercise a week).

This will start on Monday, and I will try my best to track each day that I exercise for the next three weeks (since they say it takes 3 weeks to form a habit).

Well I still haven’t found my book, but I’m not going to let such a pitiful excuse hold me back anymore (I should add ‘stop making excuses’ to my goal list) I’ve found a few resources online so that I’ll have a consistent practice each day, but I’m starting now. As of today I will do yoga at least four times a week.

I’ve often heard it said that it takes three weeks to form a habit, well I’m a little thick headed so I’ll give it four weeks. After I’ve done this for 28 days (February 15th!) I’ll consider this goal done.

I had wanted to do yoga for quite a while but didn’t have the time to take classes (I say that, but it’s really because I just didn’t want to bend myself into embarassing positions in front of other people).

About a year ago I picked up ‘Moving Toward Balance’ by Rodney Yee, a book that details an 8-Week yoga course, from beginner to advanced. I fell in love with the book, Yee is very thorough in his explanations of each pose and how the body should look and feel in it; I immediately took to the practice. In August I moved into the new apartment and the book disapeared. It’s probably hanging out somewhere with my favorite pair of jeans and my Go Outside hat.^^

With the stress of moving and starting a new job I used the loss of the book as an excuse to stop yoga and have regretted it since. I have a few yoga videos that I use from time to time, but nothing has worked so well for me as the routines in that book. I will be tearing my house apart very in the hopes of finding it.