Everyday Yogini

Clara went to bed last night with a very stuffy nose and a little cough. No fever, just a cold. No reason to keep the little one away from school… she woke up with her eyes stuck shut and goopy with, er, well, goop. It seems to me cold + pink-eye= adding insult to injury. Poor thing. We can’t go see the doctor until tomorrow, so school’s out this week for sure.

To be honest, I am sort of pleased to have some days at home with my girl. Right now, she’s asleep, but I spent the whole morning saying, “Yes” to whatever she wished to do. I know that when I do this, I still get things done and Clara is just joyful and a pleasure to be around. Not only is Clara happy, but being in the moment with her makes me happy, too.

This afternoon, when she wakes up from her nap, I am staging a Jungle Adventure for Clara. We will shut the rouladens and it will be dark and jungle-y. GRRRRRRRR…. can’t you hear the tigers roar??

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My visit with the physical therapist this morning went really well. Actually, the numbness in my arm is gone after just one session, but I will continue with her for a few months to strengthen and heal the area. In her words, “You have a neck problem”. This is no suprise, Yoginis. After my years of slouching in front of a computer as a corporate accountant, accidents, gymnastics as a kid, cheerleading, standing on my head a lot- you get the picture. I’ve not been terribly kind to my neck. I am excited to finally be taking charge and doing the work that needs to be done.

For the time being, running, headstands and shoulderstands have been forbidden, but will come back in time. For now, I am working on maintaining good posture throughout the day (which is way harder than it should be) and some exercises to relieve pressure on the discs in the cervical spine. Of course, I will continue with my daily Yoga and meditation practice and just take the running down to a quick walk.

An interesting tidbit that the therapist shared with me this morning: a stretch only begins to lengthen muscle fibers after holding for a minimum of 20 seconds. I didn’t know that, but it makes a lot of sense. I always find that during vinyasa classes, I am warm and able to lengthen my muscles in the asanas, but my flexibility never really improves over the long-term just doing Vinyasa. You have to get in there and be with the stretch for a bit. Plus, it’s good mental training, too- longer muscles are just a side benefit! So, if you practice Vinyasa (which I love, too), make sure and balance it out with longer holds of postures!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 9:04 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.