![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I think I've mentioned a few times that I've started doing yoga again recently. I've "started doing yoga" probably four or five times over the past five years or so. But this afternoon I finished my second complete rotation through my collection of videos, which means I've kept it up for nearly two months - something of a record for me and exercise, so I'm hoping I can finally blog about it without jinxing myself. Fingers crossed!
I had a few reasons for starting this up again:
- I was tired of feeling like a lazy slob, and rationalized that even low-impact yoga > no exercise at all
- I thought there was a chance it could help my back hurt less (I work on the computer all day, and generally come home and .. get on the computer, and tend to have rather atrocious posture in both cases)
- If I lost weight, that would be a plus, but not really the point.
After two months, I can say that I do feel somewhat less like a lazy slob, and my back problems may have lessened, though it's hard to quantify as they certainly haven't gone away entirely. I haven't noticed any lost weight, but people've told me I look slightly slimmer, so there's that. (I don't own a scale, so I measure my weight by how I feel about it and how well my jeans fit.) And I'm getting more flexible - not something I was particularly aiming for, but expected.
What I didn't expect was to notice any kind of a mental shift. Much to my surprise, I've felt generally mentally healthier, better able to let things go, better able to focus at work, and more in control of my life since I started practicing. I've always been pretty zen, but not this zen. And I credit yoga with helping me envision a future in which I am happy, and even fulfilled, right where I am now - even if grad school doesn't happen this fall - possibilities that have been right here all along, but I wasn't able to see. Which is pretty amazing, considering the headspace I've been in for the past few years.
(Yes, there might be other factors, blah blah, but yoga certainly didn't hurt, and I really believe that it helped.)
Anyway, ( video reviews. )
I had a few reasons for starting this up again:
- I was tired of feeling like a lazy slob, and rationalized that even low-impact yoga > no exercise at all
- I thought there was a chance it could help my back hurt less (I work on the computer all day, and generally come home and .. get on the computer, and tend to have rather atrocious posture in both cases)
- If I lost weight, that would be a plus, but not really the point.
After two months, I can say that I do feel somewhat less like a lazy slob, and my back problems may have lessened, though it's hard to quantify as they certainly haven't gone away entirely. I haven't noticed any lost weight, but people've told me I look slightly slimmer, so there's that. (I don't own a scale, so I measure my weight by how I feel about it and how well my jeans fit.) And I'm getting more flexible - not something I was particularly aiming for, but expected.
What I didn't expect was to notice any kind of a mental shift. Much to my surprise, I've felt generally mentally healthier, better able to let things go, better able to focus at work, and more in control of my life since I started practicing. I've always been pretty zen, but not this zen. And I credit yoga with helping me envision a future in which I am happy, and even fulfilled, right where I am now - even if grad school doesn't happen this fall - possibilities that have been right here all along, but I wasn't able to see. Which is pretty amazing, considering the headspace I've been in for the past few years.
(Yes, there might be other factors, blah blah, but yoga certainly didn't hurt, and I really believe that it helped.)
Anyway, ( video reviews. )
