Who hasn’t read that “exercise is good for (whatever ails you), but who actually wants to do it: wants to exercise?
That is “want” as in “I really want a cup of coffee”…or chocolate…or to sleep some more or eat lunch or dinner.
I bought a yoga mat. Three or four years ago.
A year ago I purchased as Groupon for ten yoga classes.
Have I “done yoga”? Nope. Not yet.
Do I still think that it would be good for me? To stretch and tone my muscles…my body? To “work my core”?
Umm. Yeah. Just like you. You who also is “thinking about doing yoga”. Sigh.
I’ve been told and have read that Yoga takes “working out” to the next level by exercising not only the body, but also the mind and soul.
I’ve heard or read that breathing – learning to breath – is, at least in some forms of yoga, integral to the practice of yoga.
I’ve read that the benefits of yoga include:
- Increased flexibility
- Increasing lubrication of the joints and their soft tissues (ligaments and tendons)
- Stimulating internal organs
- Detoxification
- Toning of the body
- Lowered risk of injuring muscles and ligaments
- Improved posture
- Enhanced ability to focus that also reduces stress
- Strength and resiliency increase
- Improved balance
- Increased endurance
- Increased energy level
- Weight normalization
- Improvements in sleep quality
- Immunity response improvements / fewer colds or infections
- Overall pain reduction
I have no doubt that I would benefit from yoga.
Just like I have no doubt that I would benefit from more physical activity.
Why do I nonetheless sit here, typing, and not doing what I know will do me some good?
It’s not that I lack the time, for I’m certain that I was enough time every day and every week, sufficient to engage in yoga. Regularly.
The truth is, as best I can tell, it comes down to this: choice and commitment.
The choise? What is best for me now, at this stage of my life (or your life). I’m not in need of convincing that, of all my options, yoga is an option that holds more promise for long-term health than any other form of fitness routine I might choose.
Well, maybe that’s an overstatement. Maybe some cardio and strength training at this stage would also be of measurable benefit.
But yoga continues to call to me and, instinctively, I sense…intuit…pretty darned well know that if I don’t answer that call – soon – the odds are increasing that I will come to regret it when I suffer an injury that I might have avoided or minimized IF was living with the benefits derived from the practice of yoga.
Argh. Stay tuned. Will he or won’t he? Now?
I need to stick this in my face and confront this.
And move beyond “thinking about”.
This month.