Monday night it yoga night for me. Yoga improves my muscle tone and flexibility and I really notice it if I miss a class. I tried to get my husband to attend with me. My instructor is very good about showing the beginner’s move first and then adding layers of complexity or difficulty on for the more advanced students.
Let me say this, for the folks who are not familiar with yoga. The first rule of yoga is to honor your body. To honor your body means to push enough to stretch your muscles but don’t push so hard you get hurt. Honoring your body means listening to the instructor to make sure you are performing the postures correctly – you can’t always tell if you’re doing it right just by watching the instructor. Honoring your body means using the beginners’ pose if you’re a beginner. Sounds simple, right? Alas, my husband is a little bit competitive and very nearly crippled himself during the first class trying to do what everybody else was doing.
No matter how often I told him that yoga was not a competitive sport, he would still push too hard and hobble out of class at the end of the hour. So, instead of getting a good stretch, some needed strength-training for his back, and work on balance – which we could all use!; he nearly gave himself a hernia. Now he won’t go anywhere near yoga and blames the exercise and not his refusal to do it correctly for his discomfort. Yes; sometimes I just want to smack him upside the head for being a guy.
We all know that smoking is no way to honor our bodies. I know plenty of times I have made half-hearted efforts to quit that promptly failed because I didn’t do it right. My refusal to do it correctly doomed the quit before it could even get started.
I am trying to be more mindful now. If some part of my quit isn’t working, I am asking why. What needs to change? Am I breathing? When I get irritated or flustered, I don’t breathe the way I should. Maybe I need a drink of water. Maybe I need a nap. Learning all these new ways.
Keep the quit
PT
