The benefits of yoga
I am sure there is no one who needs convincing of the benefits of yoga, certainly not those who have tried it, anyway. This blog is not about the actual benefits, but the way the few short weeks I have been doing it, have impacted my body.
The idea came into my head one day, quite strongly, like it was a prompting from spirit – quiet words, “this will help you.” And almost at the same time, I saw an ad for lazy yoga. That sounded like me, I thought. I went onto U Tube, typing in the words ‘lazy yoga’ and I came up with the one I have been doing constantly for the last month or so.
Initially I struggled, couldn’t do half the stretches, and generally found the whole thing difficult. But I persevered, not every day, but as much as I was able. Now I find I can do many of the stretches that I couldn’t do at the beginning, and my body is loving me for the experience. My back issues have almost diminished, my body is more flexible and it is better at bedtime because I can lie in more comfortable ways.
The difference is measurable. I could bend this much when I started, I can bend this much now. I chose the lazy yoga because there are still other issues I struggle with and that is being on my feet or anything that requires me being upright. With this, one is on their back for the entire half hour, so I don’t feel the strain as I do from upright activity, yet I am still getting benefits.
The instructor actually appeals to the yoga gurus during the session. “Don’t feel guilty doing lazy yoga,” she says. There has been no guilt on my part. I feel I am doing a major workout at each session. I will continue with this one until I no longer feel it is benefiting me and then look for another that also pushes me.
On another note, I am still doing my morning walk most days. This is where I am having difficulty. I have been walking for way longer than I have been doing stretches and yet I have been unable to increase my distance. One would have thought that by now, I would be walking twice as far. Not so. I still have to push to reach the same distance every morning and any further, just seems too difficult, knowing I still have to walk back.
It was a couple of years ago that I had my heart MRI, which apparently didn’t show any significant problems, yet my health has not come back to normal since the pericarditis in 2019. I have been blaming my weight and yet I remembered the other day when I lost 17 kilos, it didn’t make a scrap of difference, so it actually isn’t the weight alone. I am wondering whether it is time for more cardiac tests, perhaps of a different nature this time. The yoga is showing me that doing something repeatedly should provide improvements. The walking is not doing this.