My immediate thought when I read this, “wow, that is a breakthrough for you”. Having empathy for yourself leads to having empathy for others as well. Good for you.
First off for the life of me I do not understand hot yoga. I have been diligently practicing yoga for the last eight years and the thought of turning the heat up to over 100° and making it feel like I can’t breathe does not seem very interesting or all that useful. There was a YouTube video floating around that shows Gandhi taking a hot yoga class. Among other things he complains about the artificial heat. Now doing yoga outside in the summer is a different feeling entirely than being cooped up in a room with the heat on. I learned something from my teacher that has been very helpful to me over the past four or five years. Given the number of injuries I am dealing with I had to learn to do the exercise that I needed, not what I wanted to do. And then I had to learn to feel OK with that. So I let go of the heavy powerlifting and killer weight workouts. I stopped doing the super hard martial arts workouts. Using a combination of yoga, tai chi, physical therapy exercises, core exercise similar to your Wednesday workouts, walking and exercise bike I’ve been able put together enough exercise to keep my mental health calm and give my body the exercise it needs. The temptation to push hard comes back now and then, and I always realize that pushing hard usually exacerbates my injuries and then I can’t do anything for a little while until things calm down. So the new motto is that more is the enemy of good enough.
Mark, I hear you on the difficulty of moving away from the workouts you have grown accustomed to in your relative youth. I'm actually proud of myself for having recently quit barbell squats in favor of deadlifts and single-leg exercises. and that's just the beginning of the adjustments that I know are coming.
Good read! I support giving yourself a freaking break sometimes. I think when you’ve always been a very physical person, it’s hard not to over-identify with that. But, if we’re lucky, we age, and physicality changes. Sometimes if I feel anxious about aging related stuff I give myself a hug and say, this is what’s supposed to happen. It’s great to remain active and vibrant and healthy but hell yeah, give yourself some damn grace.
"But the invaluable lesson I’ve already learned from those three yoga sessions is that my body is not me, and it deserves my respect and compassion at regular intervals." I love this!
Yes! I'm glad your teacher underlined the present-moment-ness of yoga, the nonattachment. I continually relearn these concepts, and will all my life, because like you say, I have steeped in American focus on productivity, control, ego.
People talk about yoga being good for flexibility (which it is), basically stretching. Of course there is stretching in yoga, but it's also a lot of weightlifting, with your body as the weight. I like to take barre class followed by hot yoga. Paul, as a 60 year old woman, I occasionally violate another of yoga's values: resisting comparison. I will be in wheel, feeling a little smug next to struggling 30 year olds.
I've practiced yoga for 20 years and hot yoga for 14. It's habit forming (and controversial, based on the yoga subReddit). Whatever angst or irritation I have when I start a class, it's rinsed out by the end of class. Namaste.
Judy, thank you for your note. Interesting to read it. I think you're allowed to feel good about kicking yoga ass compared to people have your age. But I'm curious about what is controversial, exactly, and how Reddit is involved. If you care to explain. (And if you don't, that's entirely fine as well.)
My immediate thought when I read this, “wow, that is a breakthrough for you”. Having empathy for yourself leads to having empathy for others as well. Good for you.
I think I'm better at compassion for others than myself, but I could do a lot more on that front also, Mom. You're absolutely right.
Good word Paul. One-More-Grind!
Danny, the journey is the point, I guess. Thanks for your note.
First off for the life of me I do not understand hot yoga. I have been diligently practicing yoga for the last eight years and the thought of turning the heat up to over 100° and making it feel like I can’t breathe does not seem very interesting or all that useful. There was a YouTube video floating around that shows Gandhi taking a hot yoga class. Among other things he complains about the artificial heat. Now doing yoga outside in the summer is a different feeling entirely than being cooped up in a room with the heat on. I learned something from my teacher that has been very helpful to me over the past four or five years. Given the number of injuries I am dealing with I had to learn to do the exercise that I needed, not what I wanted to do. And then I had to learn to feel OK with that. So I let go of the heavy powerlifting and killer weight workouts. I stopped doing the super hard martial arts workouts. Using a combination of yoga, tai chi, physical therapy exercises, core exercise similar to your Wednesday workouts, walking and exercise bike I’ve been able put together enough exercise to keep my mental health calm and give my body the exercise it needs. The temptation to push hard comes back now and then, and I always realize that pushing hard usually exacerbates my injuries and then I can’t do anything for a little while until things calm down. So the new motto is that more is the enemy of good enough.
Mark, I hear you on the difficulty of moving away from the workouts you have grown accustomed to in your relative youth. I'm actually proud of myself for having recently quit barbell squats in favor of deadlifts and single-leg exercises. and that's just the beginning of the adjustments that I know are coming.
Good read! I support giving yourself a freaking break sometimes. I think when you’ve always been a very physical person, it’s hard not to over-identify with that. But, if we’re lucky, we age, and physicality changes. Sometimes if I feel anxious about aging related stuff I give myself a hug and say, this is what’s supposed to happen. It’s great to remain active and vibrant and healthy but hell yeah, give yourself some damn grace.
Anna, well said, as usual. Do you actually physically give yourself a hug? Or were you speaking metaphorically?
Sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically depending on the situation.
"But the invaluable lesson I’ve already learned from those three yoga sessions is that my body is not me, and it deserves my respect and compassion at regular intervals." I love this!
Yes! I'm glad your teacher underlined the present-moment-ness of yoga, the nonattachment. I continually relearn these concepts, and will all my life, because like you say, I have steeped in American focus on productivity, control, ego.
People talk about yoga being good for flexibility (which it is), basically stretching. Of course there is stretching in yoga, but it's also a lot of weightlifting, with your body as the weight. I like to take barre class followed by hot yoga. Paul, as a 60 year old woman, I occasionally violate another of yoga's values: resisting comparison. I will be in wheel, feeling a little smug next to struggling 30 year olds.
I've practiced yoga for 20 years and hot yoga for 14. It's habit forming (and controversial, based on the yoga subReddit). Whatever angst or irritation I have when I start a class, it's rinsed out by the end of class. Namaste.
Judy, thank you for your note. Interesting to read it. I think you're allowed to feel good about kicking yoga ass compared to people have your age. But I'm curious about what is controversial, exactly, and how Reddit is involved. If you care to explain. (And if you don't, that's entirely fine as well.)