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Who would have ever thought I'd be upset about NOT being able to get to my Yoga class? Something is definitely askew!
Over two months ago now (can you believe it?), I started taking Yoga in order to deal with my borderline high blood pressure and advancing years. Also, it's something I've said I'm going to do for a long time. I bought Yoga DVDs and I was kinda, sorta, doing it every once in a little while; you know how it is. Anyway, in conjunction with the work I was kinda sorta doing with my kinda sort trainer, I committed to actually paying the monthly fee at Healthsport and getting involved in Yoga. One of the hardest things I have done was sign the little form authorizing them to take the money every month from my account. I wanted to do pay and play. No, that's not how it's done. Or maybe my trainer knew me too well and just didn't give me that option; food for thought…
So, class number one was a joke. First of all, I was wearing sweatpants so I was indeed… sweating. I don't like to sweat. I prefer to "glisten." However, the worst part about the sweating was that my palms got slippery and when you're engaged in the pose from hell (which they call "Downward Dog") and you have to rely on the palms of your hands to prevent you from sliding across the floor, the last think you need is moisture on your hands. I thought, "Oh my God! Save me! I'm never gonna make it." My arms ached. My legs hurt. My shoulders throbbed.
It might not have been so bad if I had a realistic expectation but I assumed it would be just standing around chanting while gracefully bending into relaxing life-affirming, all-mellow poses. (OK, I really didn't think that but I was hoping it would be.) Turns out I'm bending and stretching into positions that the human body finds someone counter-intuitive; or at least this 54 year old human body does.
"Put your arms here," the instructor would say, trying to guide me into a forward lunge.
"I'm trying, they don't go there."
"They will. Try this."
And with her gentle (?) assistance, I would reach further than I was designed to reach and proceed (partially due to the aforementioned sweaty palms) to be laying flat on my nose, feeling like a factory-reject Weeble, (you remember those round big-bottom heavy-weighted
toys that fell over all the time. "Weebles wobble but they don't fall
down." Although, I would fall down so I don't know why I felt like a
Weeble. Maybe it was that the pain was causing me to hallucinate.)
At session's end, I had aches in places where I didn't even know I had places. Raising my arms above my shoulders required assistance and my walk seemed to have developed a straight-legged lurching punctuated with "ouch" and "oof" every third footfall.
If this is what better health feels like, it's highly overrated. I'm so outta here…
And then, I heard the words I tell so many others when they're losing weight, "Be patient. Be kind to yourself. Take small steps. Go easy. Don't compare yourself to others." Besides, I thought, if I'm supposed to be someone who motivates others on how to make changes, it seems appropriate that I should be able to actually DO some of the changes.
Since I was on the "more mature" side of the attendees, I also consoled my aching muscles and hyper-stretched limbs by saying to myself, "The other people in the room admire you for trying to make changes at your age. They probably leave after class and say to each other, 'Did you see that old guy in there? You gotta admire a guy like that trying to do this at his age.'" That spurred me on a little. Who knows, they could have all been meeting standing around doing Warrior and extended Triangle poses and laughing at the old guy who keep toppling over, but what I don't know won't hurt me — so I assumed the former.
And also, I gotta tell you it is so much easier to tell someone else how to make a change than it is to actually do it yourself. Doing the walk is nowhere near as much fun as just blustering one's way through the talk.
Anyhow, back to the story
I know that if you schedule something, you're more inclined to do it. So, I opened my (not so trusty) Palm Treo and scheduled the Tuesday morning session from Hell for every week. Then, you know what? I decided, "Well, if I'm in for a dime, I'm in for a dozen." Corny expression; doesn't even make sense; but I added a Friday appointment. More importantly I went.
Different teacher, a little softer but still awkward. From there, I added Wednesday evenings. And now, it's become a routine.
My teacher asked me how I was feeling about the classes. I said, "I've gone from dreading them to just being worried about them." I assume that's improvement.
I am walking taller. A fellow staffer at the 2009 Weight Watchers conference (where they taught us the new Momentum plan) approached me and said I had a "great walk." She didn't know me. She didn't know I was in Yoga. But, it was great to hear because — well, because it was. I mean, who doesn't like compliments? (And I have a killer walk, I might add. You'd be jealous if you saw it. You'd say, "Wow! He might be clumsy in Yoga, but damn, what a gait!)
As things go, one class to another, one muscle to another, one pose into another. Cobra. High Lunge. Plank. Boat pose. Little by little they're shaping up. When I compare myself to the teacher (or most of the class, I feel like they're trying to bend a board. When I think about how far I've moved, I feel like ribbon. And I love the feeling of relaxation (and relief) when we finally get to Corpse pose (which is pretty much self explanatory).
So, why didn't I go?
I have a cold right now and I got all ready to go and then started a sneezing fit. My greater angels won out. I realized that I would consider it dedication. The others in my class would consider it rude. It's one thing to have a middle age guy who falls over all the time in the class; that might even be a little motivational in some unusual way. However, if he sneezing all over me, not so much.
So, I am at home writing this story; sharing with you and constantly watching the clock; feeling like I am really missing out on something; my yoga session. I would have never thought…
Woe is me. I don’t know what came over me but I ran today. Voluntarily — and although I said I’d just run one block, I ran four! No one was chasing me. I couldn’t sleep. I got up early. I went to the torture park. I did what I can remember of my workout (my trainer is out of town). And then, when that was all done. I decided to run. Really. I know you wouldn’t think I would throw such caution to the wind but take that Captain Sedentary! You are history. (At least for today.)
Woe is me. I don’t know what came over me but I ran today. Voluntarily — and although I said I’d just run one block, I ran four! No one was chasing me. I couldn’t sleep. I got up early. I went to the torture park. I did what I can remember of my workout (my trainer is out of town). And then, when that was all done. I decided to run. Really. I know you wouldn’t think I would throw such caution to the wind but take that Captain Sedentary! You are history. (At least for today.)
Woe is me. I don’t know what came over me but I ran today. Voluntarily — and although I said I’d just run one block, I ran four! No one was chasing me. I couldn’t sleep. I got up early. I went to the torture park. I did what I can remember of my workout (my trainer is out of town). And then, when that was all done. I decided to run. Really. I know you wouldn’t think I would throw such caution to the wind but take that Captain Sedentary! You are history. (At least for today.)
Woe is me. I don’t know what came over me but I ran today. Voluntarily — and although I said I’d just run one block, I ran four! No one was chasing me. I couldn’t sleep. I got up early. I went to the torture park. I did what I can remember of my workout (my trainer is out of town). And then, when that was all done. I decided to run. Really. I know you wouldn’t think I would throw such caution to the wind but take that Captain Sedentary! You are history. (At least for today.)
Woe is me. I don’t know what came over me but I ran today. Voluntarily — and although I said I’d just run one block, I ran four! No one was chasing me. I couldn’t sleep. I got up early. I went to the torture park. I did what I can remember of my workout (my trainer is out of town). And then, when that was all done. I decided to run. Really. I know you wouldn’t think I would throw such caution to the wind but take that Captain Sedentary! You are history. (At least for today.)
I have mixed feelings about the price of gasoline at $4/gallon (and probably headed for $5). Naturally, I don't want to pay a high price any more than anyone else wants to. I will not use this space to get into a political discussion about whether the price is being manipulated by oil companies (yes, somewhat) or whether it's a function of the fact that India and China (and the remainder of the world) are consuming more gasoline (yes, definitely) or whether energy companies need more incentives to drill (no) or whether it's our own lazy habits that are driving the dependency (you bet — big time!); however, after losing my weight — and dealing with lots of people who are fighting addictions of their own — I have come to believe that the ONLY way to break an addiction is through pain.
No one wakes up in the morning cheerful, happy, and go-lucky and says, "Well, what can I do now to change my life?" We only do it when we're unhappy with the way things are. When the pain of transformation is perceived to be less than the pain of stagnation, we will change.
I don' t know if $4 gasoline is enough to do that. I hope it is. On a moral and ethical level I firmly believe we must pay more attention to our planet and our environment. On a personal and health-related level, it's one more reason to get on a bicycle or strap on your sneakers and see what your neighborhood looks like from the ground up.
At our WW meetings this week, we’ve been talking about the excuses some of us use to avoid exercising. They run the range (and I’m well versed in most of them):
- It’s boring
- Takes too much time
- It’s too cold/hot/windy/wet…
- I’ll get sweaty
- I don’t have a partner
- It hurts
(My favorite was, "I can’t go out and do my exercises because I’ll miss my Weight Watchers meeting.")
Of course, the number one rule of the universe, "If you want to get somewhere else, you have to do something else" raises its ugly little head whenever excuses pop up. In other words, if I want to be healthier/thinner/more fit, I have to do something I’m not doing right now. Why? Well, obviously, what I’m doing right now put me where I am right now. As much as I hate it, I have to change.
The question at hand is, "How do you take an already busy life and cram even more things into it?" I mean, it’s not like the remainder of your chores and tasks will simply disappear and allow you to add 30 minutes a day of walking.
So what do you do?
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Last week, I posted about my experience with my new trainer. Obviously, in light of the video and photo on the post I posted, it was done tongue-in-cheek, but it did hit some concerns that I think many of us in the "non fitness circles" have about activity.
What have I learned in my lengthy (12 days) career of working out with a trainer?
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