Thursday, July 17, 2008

THANKFUL THURSDAY

Today I am thankful for my Yoga class. Although being graceful has never been my greatest talent, I have always been relatively flexible and limber--we called it being "double-jointed" when I was young. In the past ten years or so I have exercised a lot because I was having multiple hip problems which finally culminated in two hip replacements. At first I was led to believe that strengthening my "core" or hip girdle area would make the hip pain go away, so I began a frenzy of exercise programs, work with personal trainers, water therapy, and so on. However, I shied away from Yoga and Pilates because I was fearful that I just could not do those things. Unfortunately, I just never checked them out.

Despite my frenzy of exercise programs, I ended up with two hip replacements. After my second hip replacement my wonderful physical therapist sent me to a place called "Core Power" for further strengthening. It was run by a physical therapist and her husband. Their specialty was a combination of Yoga and Pilates to strengthen the core muscles. I exercised with them for a delightful year of learning how to strengthen muscles to help my aging body work better without wearing out my joints. Now, this summer, I am taking a Yoga class and just loving it. The instructor started out with some simple moves that I was able to do--perhaps not so gracefully, but at least I can achieve the poses and hold them now. The last couple of weeks she has "ramped up" (her words, not mine) the routines and I have struggled to copy her graceful poses. There have been several times when I thought I would collapse due to exhaustion, but I managed to hang in there. My competitive spirit kicks in and I look around thinking, "If they can do it, so can I--huff, huff, puff, puff, breathe, breathe!"

And, so today I am thankful for my Yoga class. And I am even more thankful that my husband is doing it with me! In fact, the class is almost all male--I, as a female, am a minority in the class. That really surprised me when I joined the class, but it made it a good class for my husband to join also and I am thankful that he is there, paying attention to his own strength and flexibility.

4 comments:

  1. That's funny the class is mostly male! If it was at a better time I would definitely join you. :)

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  2. It has been amazing—and some of them are really great! We are still neophytes!

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  3. How wonderful that your husband is joining you there. Does that motivate you to practice together at home?

    Funny about your competitive spirit there. In the yoga classes I've attended, we are always urged not to avoid competitive thinking -- "Pay attention to your own body, not someone else's! You could hurt yourself." Like you, I have trouble heeding that sage advice.

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  4. Yes, I know, I know! Our instructor also tells us that this is NOT a competition, but I still have this "thing" within that says I want to be like the lithe fellow across the room who is the picture of grace when he moves from pose to pose. And, no, we do not practice at home--but we do go to the gym 5 days a week and do other kinds of exercise. I am considering a CD to use at home, though--if anyone could suggest a good one??

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