Do you ever wonder about the amazing level of commitment you had when you were young? When I was in high school I used to get up at six in the morning and do an hour of yoga. I would do more at night. There were no yoga classes I knew of within easy reach and I couldn’t have afforded them anyway so I taught myself from library books. What is even more amazing to me now is that I kept it up for three years.
Now I can’t believe I was capable of such a commitment, a nerdy bookworm who has joked for years about being allergic to sport. I am doing preparation for yoga every day. By that I mean I am doing some basic exercises to loosen up all my tight muscles and joints. It is making a difference after only a few weeks but it will be some time before I can begin what I think of as proper yoga. I can’t even touch the floor in a technically correct forward bend! However, I can get my hands about four inches closer to the floor than when I started. There is an in-between stage where joints begin to loosen but there is a small amount of pain going on in daily life because those tight muscles evolved to support other weak muscles in their job. You have to change it all slowly, loosening muscles and strengthening others to re-establish proper balance. A bit like trying to re-establish a native habitat. Too much of one thing at the wrong time and you don’t get the right result. I am erring on the side of caution. I have a reasonable back for my age but there are a couple of areas that need careful nurturing or I will cause damage.
Wow! I almost thought I knew what I was talking about there! It would prolong my life greatly if I kept it up. Yoga is truly marvellous. I could never run but after three years of yoga I went to a national park with two friends and they started running and I ran with them, and was amazed I was doing it. The crazy thing is that I have always known it was wonderful and didn’t do it, with one exception. My back, though misshapen by bad habits and hours at desks, is better than most men my age. If ever I had a problem with it over the years I used to do spinal twists every day until it was ok. The worst problem was when I picked up a rock that was way too heavy and my back went out badly. The family doctor, who had a bit of knowledge of chiropractic, couldn’t put it in again and I fixed it myself with a few gentle spinal twists. I don’t have any painful trouble spots.
A couple of times in the last few years I almost died from a heart problem giving me pulmonary oedema (fluid in the lungs). My memory of yoga breathing probably kept me alive as I forced air into the few square centimetres of lung surface that weren’t drowning in fluid.