April 6, 2006

Yoga Progress
Posted in Exercise

yoga sun set iconThe yoga progress is going fairly well. The reason i say fairly is because i missed 1 day due to work, and various other things that kind of just CAME UP and ate away my yoga time. Other than things are going great and i have been sticking to my routine as best as i can. What is really amazing is how quickly the body adapts! I mean i have basically been doing various yoga flows every day starting on April 2nd and after just 5 days i can feel my body moving through different poses more easily. An example is downward facing dog. In down dog you basically point your toes forward under your body and raise your hips upward, stretching the spine, arms and legs. Check out the picture i have included.

picture of downward facing dog
Image: Downward Facing Dog

As you can probably tell from that picture of down dog, you are basically making a triangle with your body by lifting your ass/hips UP, and by doing this it pulls on your legs and back. Getting back to my POINT, the body is SO quick to adapt that when i started just 5 days ago i really only felt this pose in my legs but TODAY i felt it stretch my lower back out and when i took a deep breathe in my lower back actually cracked. What i think was happening before is that my legs were so inflexible that i had to bend them to avoid tension/strain on my hamstrings and upper calves. This bending hindered my ability to straighten from the hips as an axis point. So what i am getting at is that in just a few days my legs have adapted and become more flexible to the point that i can actually feel it all the way up my back. That amazes me.

One other thing i should point out is that if you have read my little ‘about me’ page, you know that i do a lot of computer work. My lower back normally has a tiiiiiiny bit of pain or discomfort at all times. It’s nothing serious or intense, but just enough to let my back say hello from time to time. The yoga flows have really reduced this feeling and i can feel with some spine twists and bridging that it is just working the lower back OUT.

I am going to continue this for a total of 2 weeks before i start weight training. I think the balance and stability i can ALREADY feel in just a few days will continue to grow.

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