Yoga

Okay, yoga may not be the perfect alternative to fishing, but it is one alternative. Plus, the bonus is that I just might improve my flexibility and balance. Not that I am immobile, but I am old. And while my regular treadmill activity keeps me fit, it is a losing battle with aging muscles and arthritic joints. I know that the answer is to work the muscles to strengthen them, this in turn eases the strain on the worn out joints. At least, that is the theory. And I plan to test it.

I wrote about the boredom associated with winter retirement here. And of course, why I retired in the first place here. I guess, when you think about it, winter is boring for everyone, especially those with outdoor hobbies. I shouldn't complain as I do have both indoor and outdoor hobbies. But something needed to fill in for fishing and boating. I decided to consider yoga, after being inspired by a good friend posting her journey on FB. It will fill the gap until fishing weather returns, and who knows? Perhaps I will enjoy it enough to continue with it. 

Naturally I am not going to sign up for yoga classes. Firstly, I am still avoiding people as much as possible due to COVID and secondly, as mentioned in a previous post, I no longer have my own car. There is no way I am going to have Larry drive me and wait around—that would be worse than when he had to do that for my physical therapy. 

I have done yoga before, using the Wii Fit balance board—we don't have that anymore. I wasn't very good at it but I got better with practice. I don't even have my yoga mat anymore, I abandoned that in our last move. It was very old. I ordered a new yoga mat on Amazon and searched on YouTube and found some good classes.

My plan is to add thirty minutes of yoga to my ninety minute treadmill workout. This will double as cool down and stretching, while at the same time, I hope, strengthen my aging musculature. I might even enjoy it.

The reason why I am boring you with this is in order to solidify my commitment. This is something I would very easily find reasons to avoid if I didn't already put it out there for the world to see me fail.

While I wait for my mat to arrive, I am watching the videos so that I will be more familiar with the exercises. I will start on Wednesday.