The Yoga Quest for Inner Peace

So I decided in my quest for true inner peace and the want to keep my body in relatively good shape I would start doing Yoga.

I found a wonderful DVD from a great teacher who explains that the poses aren’t Yoga they are just callenetics , the Yoga part comes from breathing and looking within.

Great just what I wanted somewhere to focus my mind when it is running around like a headless chicken, at the same time as getting my body back into shape (I’m trying many different body shapes at the moment)

Okay so get started, first learning to breath, “sit cross legged”, okay hold on a second, the last time I sat cross legged was when I was knee high to a grasshopper at school, my legs just don’t do that anymore., still in the interest of doing it right I sit cross legged and tell myself by this time next week it will be less painful, or I’ll still be sitting where I am because I’ve got stuck and my daughter hasn’t yet run out of clean clothes to wear so hasn’t noticed I’ve been motionless.

Now the breathing, the only thing I can liken it to is snoring while awake, (so when I’m actually caught snoring I can just claim to have been practising my Yoga breathing, bonus!).

Okay so off we go, I’ve seen this posture done on TV, “The Downward Dog” , or in my case the “The Downward Collapsing Dog”. Now while sticking my bum in the air, keeping my back straight, pushing down on the hands with my chin on my chest, trying to get my legs straight and my heels down flat on the ground I am supposed to continue breathing slow long breaths in, slow long breaths out, (do you know how hard it is to do long slow breaths when you are doing a long slow collapse onto the floor, and no the ooooohhhhhhh aaahhhhh noises coming from me are not the mantra).

Okay moving swiftly on, (by now my two cats have appeared and are laughing at me trying to get up off the floor, while they are wrapping their legs around their bodies just because they can).

The Warrior Pose – okay what was that she says stand tall, stand strong, stand your ground, feel powerful, look lady if someone was to sneeze in Africa at this precise moment, I would fall over with no effort what so ever.

Breath whatever else happens, breath, give it time yoga will make you feel so much better, more alive, it will help with your posture, and you will walk taller.

That was yesterday, so how do I feel today, well yes I have to admit I am walking taller today my calf muscles are so sore I have to walk around on my toes. It is recommended that I practise for at least 25 minutes every day, I will not be defeated, today I’m going to practice my breathing technique…..shhhhhhhh