Concentrate on What You Have

As I was watching the video of the Yoga instructor performing the stretches, I thought to myself, “I will never be able to stretch that far”. I saw her poise, and thought, “I’ll never look like her, with those long and graceful, almost ballerina-like, moves”.


But that is not what should matter, I thought instantly. I said the same thing out loud to Hubby, maybe to reinforce my thoughts. He said, that is correct. Anything you do is going to help your body. I know that whatever I do, I’ll be able to stretch further and not have that soreness around my neck and shoulders. I want to do this to improve my balance, which will transfer to my riding. I’ll do this for myself and not for anyone else.


As I stretched last night, (I need to change the time to mornings, but that is on tomorrow’s topic about setting a schedule), I focused on myself. I mirrored the stance of the instructor. I watched, I went in the poise, then I looked to see how she looked. I’m realizing, and she stated this also, that your body will realize when something is right. I’ll go into the pose that is comfortable and right for me now. As I learn, I’ll be able to stretch more.


Towards the end of the session, one comment the Yoga instructor said on the dvd was to let gravity stretch out your body. I came to understand that as I was stretching. Standing, and bending over from the hips, with my head down, I could feel myself relax.


As I relaxed, I could feel my back let go a little and stretched down a little, without me trying to do that. It was an amazing feeling to just totally surrender and relax, with no “holding back” and just let my head and arms hand down. I’m sure by the end of the session, I was ready to relax. In a quiet room, listening to the soft music and soothing tone of the instructions, I could close my eyes and just be there. Go into a position with breathing, stretch, close eyes, breathe, and relax. That sounds soothing just writing this and re-reading this.


I need to think about changing my Yoga time to morning. The instructor said that there is something spiritual about Yoga and stretching first thing in the morning, with the morning sun coming up and the quiet and peacefulness of the mornings. Maybe that is when I’ll do most of the stretching, but I can already tell that I’ll want to end the day with a few stretches, before my shower. I can tell that to relax my muscles at the end of the day will be just as soothing to me as starting my day with Yoga. Yoga allows the body, and the mind, to relax.


Yoga slows you down, lets you concentrate on deep breathing, allows you to slowly stretch out your body, and relax. Yoga is calming and peaceful. Maybe I’ll need to do a few Yoga stretches before riding too.

Back to the Weight Machines

After my first Yoga class yesterday, and waking up with a slightly stiff neck this morning, I thought I better get back to exercising on a regular schedule. I felt pretty good after consistently exercising every day back in January. But then life got busy, and exercising took a back seat.

I can’t get up early to exercise, since I want to stay in bed, to the very last minute that I can, in the morning. I can’t exercise after supper, as I’m ready for a shower and glass of wine. I can’t exercise in the middle of the day, as I better be outside with the horses. When do I exercise? I better find that time, and find it fast, because this body isn’t getting any younger, or any less pudgy in places.

Yesterday, I used the weight machines and walked on an elliptical machine for 12 minutes. 10 minutes forward and 2 minutes backward. You’re not suppose to go backwards, but backward pedaling mimics the movement that you feel when you ride. I love it that my legs are strong and I only had a slight tightening in my calves after using the machines, and none this morning. I don’t love that I have almost zero, zip, nada upper body strength. Oh, I’ll take that back. I have some strength, and I can move the weights, but on the very lowest weights.

Back in January, it didn’t take very long to move the weights from near zero to 3 or 4 levels higher. I could tell the difference, not only in my biceps, but in the movement that I had through my shoulders. I used to struggle with “opening my chest up” when riding Centered Riding. The weights that I did in January reinforced that movement and loosened up my shoulders. By the end of 2 weeks, I could feel my legs toning up and my shoulders ached less.

Now, I’m not quite back to square one, but almost. I think muscle memory is helping. My shoulders don’t hurt. I think my neck hurts, only because of the Yoga stretches yesterday, and possibly doing too much stretching along with just starting weights again. Yesterday I could only walk 12 minutes, today I walked 15 minutes, and I felt like I could do more.

Hand in hand with exercising is eating well. But I love red meat. I’ll compromise with a salad when I eat a steak. No potato. No bread. I’ll eat more fish like we had tonight. Broiled on the grill, lightly seasoned with minimal salt and pepper. I need to learn how to season meat, but I need to season with herbs that don’t bother my stomach. Oh, and I also had a salad tonight. With Italian dressing. I dipped a piece of fish in the Italian dressing and it didn’t taste too bad, but the dressing is tangy, so I would season the fish with it, but with a very small amount.

You are suppose to wait for 2 hours to do Yoga after eating a snack and 4 hours after eating a meal. Hubby said that what I am used to eating, I ate a snack instead of a meal for supper. I think I’m going to be hungry later.

I’ll put in my Yoga dvd now and I’ll try to follow along. Then I plan on soothing my body and soak in a tub filled with very hot water.

Yoga and Horses

Monday, March 28, 2011

I had my first Yoga class today. Yoga and horses? Yes, Sally Swift, of Centered Riding, relied heavily on Alexander Techniques and Tai Chi for stretching and balancing exercises, and to prepare the mind. All good things when it comes to riding.

And Yoga is not easy! The stretching is ok, holding the position maybe ok, getting into position - not so easy! lol

I wasn’t the only new student to Yoga. There were at least 2 other ladies there that hadn‘t had a yoga class before. The instructor was young, but very clear and concise with her directions. She talked through the stretches and gave us time to perform the stretch at our own speed. I really liked her style a lot

The instructor had mats scattered around the room. I positioned one towards the back, and where I could see myself in the mirror. I found myself looking up and watching the instructor to see how she did a stretch and how she looked, then glanced at myself in the mirror. They were not mirror images!

Yoga is a mindset, and brings a peace and calm to your body. As the instructor talked us through the movements, I found it easier and easier to get in position and to hold the position. Breathe deeply, close your eyes, relax, and hold the position as long as you can, without overdoing it or causing strain or soreness to your body. And it became easier to hold the stretch the longer you “allow” your body to relax.

I would glance sideways to look at the instructor. I knew I was to be looking down and relaxing but I wanted to make sure I was doing the stretches properly. I’m sure I didn’t totally relax into the stretch as we were suppose to. But I wanted to make sure I was correct, as she cautioned about having a certain frame, like knee over ankle, I’m sure for balance and support. I’ll learn more as I keep going to lessons and I watching my tape.

My legs and arms were shaky at times. I would hold the stretch as long as I could, and believe me, it was not for very long. As the session continued, my arms, legs and core were being used in ways that they hadn’t been used. The shaky limbs weren’t a bad thing, and they didn’t hurt. But I realized what areas of my body I needed to build up endurance.

When we stood and faced the mirror for some standing exercises, I found that if I concentrated and watched myself in the mirror, I would hold the pose longer. If I glanced to see how someone else looked, I would lose my balance. I found that if I relaxed and just looked straight ahead without staring, I would just “be in position” and “be there in the moment” without trying to “hold“ the position. Every time, I came back to my mind and begin thinking about what I was doing, I would lose my position and my balance a little.

That was my moment of realization of what Yoga is all about for me. I need to let my mind go! I need to be in the “moment”. I need to totally relax, let me body do the position without thinking about it, let my mind go, and be calm. It’s almost like letting your mind go empty, without realizing it, until you come back to your mind and realize that you were actually not thinking about anything.

You are aware of what is around you, and then you’re not. It was like emptying your thinking process and letting go. A total surrender. And when I felt like that, I could feel the tension or tightness leave my shoulders. I only felt my deep breathing. I could close my eyes easier and be content.

As I breathed deep, closed my eyes, I let go. Not concentrating, but just stretching. Not staring, but aware. Not worried about losing my balance, but staying calm.

The breathing came very easy for me, since I’m doing the deep breathing with Centered Riding. Actually, I was breathing longer and deeper and got a little behind in the movements. But that was ok, as the movements are to be done at your own pace, and especially with stretching, should only be done as far as you want to stretch or able to stretch.

Yoga is going to help my riding! Yoga is about balance and breathing and calmness. Yoga is bringing everything that Centered Riding is bringing to my riding. Everything that horses need!

I keep going back to the difference I feel in my balance. In just one session, I know I can find an “inner” balance to rely on. That inner balance is a strange feeling as I’m thinking about it right now. I feel something inside me growing. I feel a strength.

And as I search for that inner peace and calm, I‘m feeling it. With Yoga, I feel it .

Now to put in the disk and continue on my own for a week. I feel a few muscles that need stretching. I’m sure they will be stretching as I ride, too!