Yoga Friday

Today’s a yoga day; something I manage twice a month. Bi-monthly yoga does not get me into shape. Rather it’s just enough to remind me I’m out of shape. I’m doing yoga to be healthy; to feel energetic and alert. But, I’ll admit it, I’d love to have a yogi body. Yogis are fit. They have muscles - beautiful muscles! (I’ve had a muscle infatuation since visiting the Body World exhibit. The shear beauty and strength of a skinned human is amazing.) My own musculature is deeply embedded beneath a protective layer of fat. I’d like to get to know those guys under there - the ones between the bones and subcuticular tissue. Hello! I know you're there - somewhere. I don’t want a jacked up anabolic body; a young Arnold Schwarzenegger with a pony tail. No, I want a long lean strong body; a yogi body.

Right now I'm tired all the time. It’s hard to get going in the morning. I shlump in the afternoon. How different would I feel with daily exercise? Daily yoga? I know I’d eat better; I always do when on an athletic binge. I move towards foods that give me energy. I eat less sugar. I drink more water and less alcohol. Coffee becomes a smaller staple. I feel better, inside and out.

And, really, I still think of myself as an athlete; the one who played varsity tennis, the varsity swimmer, the lifeguard. It’s hard to reconcile that person with the one in the mirror. Where did I go?

It seems I went to Mommy Land. Mommy Land is much different from Neverland (and I mean Peter Pan not Micheal Jackson!). Mommy Land is a place for self-deprecating middle-aged workaholics who forget they, too, are important. But today is a yoga day; a hall pass to escape screaming toddlers and messy houses. When the class is through I will take a moment to thank myself for doing good things just for me.

And tomorrow? Well, maybe I’ll go to yoga tomorrow too.

Happy Friday Everyone!