First Yoga Class EVER

Yesterday was a monsoon, starting in the mid morning and not letting up till very early this morning. The heavy rain and darkness sucked the energy out of me, and much of the day was spent on one couch or another, where I read one murder mystery and an YA fantasy novel.  But right now, early Sunday morning, the sunshine is almost painfully brilliant and it will stay that way all day. The energy is up and I'm ready to DO some things. But first, I need to check in here. It's been too long. I have to be reflective and accountable if I'm going to make any progress.

My philosophy is changing on how I want to handle my diet and exercise for a while. I want to go down in weight - duh - any woman with a butt like mine would!  But strong, flexible, balanced, and connected to my family are things I need to put my energy into right now. That means compromises on how I will eat, and how I will spend my time, from the things I would do and eat if I were on my own.

The gym is paid for the next several months, so I'll be doing that. But I've added an activity I'm incredibly excited about:  Yoga.  Many of my friends do it regularly. I've read books - mostly memoirs -  where it figures largely in people's lives. It's seemed mysterious and magic to me. But except for not very effective Wii or a DVD, I've never done it at all.  I signed up for a class, but I'll miss the first scheduled one next Tuesday. Knowing that, when I saw the studio has a free open-house style weekend of classes before starting their new semester next week, I showed up yesterday to a beginner's session.

I'm not sure what I was expecting - maybe a single session would lead to enlightenment, peace, and a whole new outlook on the world? It didn't do that. I'm not disappointed, certainly, but I'm re-calibrating my expectations, now that I've got something from real life to build on.  If it does completely change my life, it will come from the repeated practice, not like a bolt of lightening.

The class teacher was not what I expected. She is short, fat, and 62 years old (she isn't the regular teacher for my class. My teacher, per web bio, is currently a major number cruncher with the government. It is a company town.)  She was.... more like me than not. A senior financial analyst with the government until she retired and became full time yoga instructor. Shaped like an apple, but extremely strong and flexible. Used words I hear at the gym, "quadriceps"and "sacroiliac", along with Sanskrit words and more spiritual phrases.

We began with conversation, then sitting and briefly chanting. Then she demonstrated and talked us through several moves. All but one were well within my competence for reach and strength (the one I couldn't do required balance), but they were subtly different from the gym. The moving from one place to another, the words used to describe what we were doing ("melt your heart") gave it a context that was nice. We ended with "corpse pose" and chanting again. It wasn't too eastern-mysterious, and I do believe physical actions will affect you mentally, so I did the chants out loud while reserving in my mind my rational skepticism. The yoga class followed immediately my regular Saturday gym class and that is not something I'll do regularly. I have some minor soreness now, and I can't tell if its the yoga or the gym. The schedule I'm going to try is Tuesday nights, from 8 pm to 9:30 pm, a time I would normally be vegging out with the kids or at home.  "Found time".

Coming up today? Yard work, added to the inside chores I could have done but didn't do yesterday. The kids are on spring break, and I've got a vacation mentality too. The boys are going to visit the college boy tonight (its a surprise so I hope they find him!!) and Monday night the girls are taking the dog to the beach on the Eastern shore. Got to organize some road food for us, but no family dinners or work lunches before Thursday. Good to get out of the routine and do something different.

PS: for the third week in a row, my average weight has been exactly (within 0.1 pound) the same.  The good news is, the bouncing around is less than it had been, the body has really settled here. I'll be ok with staying here for a while as long as it doesn't go up. As the weather gets nicer, I'll be more active. I can always blitz to break the set point later, when I can spend a couple of weeks or so really focusing on it.

I borrowed and adapted a technique from a couple of other friends and bloggers (Kim and Alice) , and started (on the fly, its so easy) a personal daily log of things to give myself credit for. I'm only giving myself positive reinforcement there. It's not comprehensive, only the plusses. I've linked it on the right, and it is here.
Very boring, but feel free to look and comment.  Because I'm that way, I sum up each day with an arbitrary point total (again, only pluses no minuses). So far, it's just for the additional positive reinforcement of looking at a number that will grow over time.