Today I woke up at 4:30am. I don’t know why, but maybe because this was supposed to be my rest day and my body was playing a cruel joke on me. Today was the day of rest so I did the Yoga for Dummies tape. Let me preface today’s excerpt with….this is the first day of a premature monthly visit from aunt flo and BOY am I glad that there were no jumping jacks today! I hate my hormones almost as much as I hate jumping jacks. They are unpredictable these days because they are highly influenced by my close friend’s and family member’s hormones. If my hormones could be reasoned with I would ask them, “If all my friends hormones jumped off of a bridge, would you jump off of a bridge too?” Any ways, I noticed a couple of new things with the dummied (but not dummied enough for me) up yoga tape. The first thing that I noticed is that the instructor tells you to do yoga on an empty stomach. This is because there will be an inversion where you get your heart above your head to “detoxify” and I GUESS pump fresh blood to your brain and therefore your stomach is above your throat. Any ways---I’m thinking, “How fresh does your blood have to get?” I don’t buy it. Now, it’s probably do to hormones, but when I did that stupid downward facing dog position, I got an immediate headache. My brain apparently likes stale blood, so once again I did not do that position for a full 6 breaths. I still don’t how to breathe correctly and I’ve noticed that I breathe a lot faster by the end---probably in a subconscious attempt to get out of these ridiculous positions more quickly. I have to stifle laughing every time the instructor says, “now relax your face, jaw and forehead” because my face is always not relaxed at that point and I am left wondering how long my face was scrunched up like it was. Finally the last thing I have to say about today’s yoga is that the instructor tells you that you can do the “modified” pose if you can’t manage the one she’s doing, but later on she says, “You can do this, but the rest of us will do this.” That sounded like a challenge to me (even though she clearly says, “Yoga is not a competition,” at least twice.) Soooo….even though she clearly said that I could do a modified exercise, I was challenged to not act like the old lady that I am, who spent a few weeks on crutches last summer and a few more doing physical therapy twice a week. It hasn’t been a problem with the other strength training exercises because I know my limitations. Those exercises are obvious to me when they’re difficult (other than the jumping jacks) so I know to be careful. Yoga is deceitful. It looks easy when it’s not and can be easy when it looks hard. Today, I felt real pain (though only for a second) from simply sitting on my heals, and have determined not to be proud and will do the old lady modifications on Sunday when I get to “rest” again. Don’t worry.
I had plenty of time before needing to leave for work and since I like walking and was told by the internet twit that my kind of walking wasn’t REALLY exercising. I figured that I would rest by taking a 2mi walk. (No jogging, just walking---I’m resting.) I like doing this a lot now that the sun is rising before I have to go to work. I love praying and being alone with God.
Today was very special, (again—ignore my mushy hormones) I was glorifying God for a beautiful morning and praying for my friends and family. I remembered today was the anniversary of the VA Tech tragedy and cried (stupid hormones) as I remembered a 250 lb 6’5” security guard from work weeping when he found out his daughter was safe after three hours of uncertainty. I remembered my oldest daughter checking all of her friend’s myspaces and facebooks to see if they were all ok. Praise God, they were. She was upset because an older brother of a friend that she graduated with was shot in the arm but recovered. She will be in one of her other Tech friend’s weddings next month---I was thankful. I thought of my own concern for former students from the community college where I am a math instructional assistant that ended up being safe---I was thankful. Then I prayed for the families and friends that weren’t as fortunate as we were.
I was really caught up in my time with God when I came across one of the older widows who walks when the sun rises. I remember seeing her a lot during the summer during my walks, before I started going to work so early to my second job teaching two classes in a Christian high school. She crossed the street and asked if I was Vickie. I said that I was and she said that she and some other older people that walk in my neighborhood in the mornings had been praying for me since I got the infection that caused my knee injury and that they were sooo happy to see that I could walk again. (They hadn’t seen me since then until recently because they walk when the sun rises, and I had been walking in the dark since the fall until recently.) That was such a blessing. God is so good to me, through my friends, family, students, and neighbors. I am truly blessed. (I warned you. I said, “ignore my hormones.”)
Well, tomorrow isn’t a rest day….I’m sure that evil woman has more jumping jacks in store for me tomorrow. Until then, enjoy life. You only get one.
No comments:
Post a Comment