Taking a Yoga Night

Even though I am still recovering from being a clumsy idiot, it doesn’t mean it’s all downtime around here.

I had to hold off on swimming today because my upper arm, shoulder and elbow are still a little tender (I’ve been living minor-injury-to-minor-injury like some people live paycheck-to-paycheck). While I could have taken a run on the pleasantly brisk day, I opted for an hour of yoga and light weight training instead.

Have you heard of the FitTV series Namaste Yoga? It’s a fairly stylized program that features an at-times intense flow yoga workout, which I did for about 22 minutes this evening. I caught the title a while back when searching my digi cable guide for NBA Basketball (what else?) and recorded a couple episodes on my DVR. And despite its mildly distracting production, Namaste Yoga is a good yoga program.

Tonight’s yoga started out with three cat series that rolled all of Saturday morning’s bad vibes out of my back. I’ve been a little creekedy these past couple days (and I realize more and more each day how different it was to fall at 17 compared to 27) and was a little wary about getting into yoga. So, as usual, I inched my way in. While there was a little bit of pain at the beginning, I really warmed up after a few poses and some deep breathing. I think I’m just about ready to stop being a wuss and get back to being my full self again.

I hadn’t realized, however, how out of yoga shape my arms had gotten over the winter (I’m a winter yoga slacker, I admit it). After about three repetitions of cat pose to cat stretch to upward dog to downward dog, I could feel various tri- and bicep-area muscles creeping out from hibernation. They feel pretty warm right now, but I’m sure they’ll be quite alive and kicking tomorrow!

But the yoga won’t stop here. I’m very eager to check out the Namaste Yoga I’m recording this evening, which was described as flow yoga for distance runners. I have noticed that after I do yoga, I have considerably better posture for at least a day after a workout. And then I slump back into my frumpy stance. But that posture carries over into my running. It not only improves my focus and the way I carry my weight; it opens up my chest and helps me breathe better.

So, I will definitely take to my yoga mat tomorrow night and pass along the yoga secrets of the running people.