My Introduction to Yoga

I grew up in a very high stress environment. It was so bad that even now that I am married and away from all that environment I don't know how to not stress. Constant stress is actually really unhealthy mentally as well as physically. I have been slowly working on learning to lose the anxiety.

I think that being outside in nature is calming and apparently exercise is also supposed to help anxiety. So as a New Year goal I wanted to take walks every other day or at least just get out and be in the sunshine and grass. However, the last few months have been quite rainy and cold! I was able to really get out maybe three times. Those times were helpful, but not enough and I can't keep sitting around waiting for it to get nice out again.

Basic Yoga for Dummies

Then one day in Sam's Club some yoga DVDs  sparked my interest. Instead of buying one right then I went home and checked my library catalog. I picked one from my library and requested it.  The day I checked it out I put the DVD in and did the first four poses. 

In the Basic Yoga Workout for Dummies DVD Sarah Ivanhoe goes over twelve different poses explaining them and the breathing that goes along with them fully. I never understood yoga before this. All I had ever seen of yoga was in books or pictures. I just thought you stood for a bit in a funny pose and somehow that was supposed to be helpful. Actually it is much more interesting than that! The poses MOVE! I never could have know that without seeing yoga practiced in real life or on a video. 

Soon thereafter I told my husband about new interest in yoga and find out, much to my surprise, that he would actually do yoga with me! (This is a relationship lesson for everyone: Never assume you know what the other person is thinking.) The very next day we popped in the Yoga for Dummies DVD and went through all 12 poses together. It was more difficult than we expected, but still easy enough. We really liked it. 

AM and PM Yoga

On our next trip to Sam's Club I picked up another yoga DVD. AM & PM Yoga for Beginners by Elena Brower. And we did the AM workout less then 24 hours after we finished the 12 Dummy poses.  Which was fine... until the next day when the soreness hit. Wow! I never knew yoga was so intense! But it is a good soreness. I think we, or at least I am, hooked to this whole yoga thing. 

By the way, we are super glad we did the Dummy DVD first. Although we really like the Element DVD there is no instruction on the poses. Without figuring out the poses beforehand we would have been super lost and frustrated and probably given up on yoga. So if you think you might like to try yoga I highly recommend the Dummy DVD as a starting point. 

We have been doing the AM workout every few days for the last three weeks. It is not exactly getting easier yet, but I have noticed a significant difference in my level of stress. I'd like to be practicing yoga three times a week, but if I get it in at least twice it makes a difference.

I don't think we are going to give up yoga anytime soon. After all, it comes from the same people who wrote the Kama Sutra. Well, that and it is just plain good for us!