My yoga progress

I haven't finished with the yoga theme.

In my previous post I mentioned that I was going to attempt to do the Thirty Day Move yoga journey, but I had beginners yoga and yoga for seniors as alternatives just in case the thirty day trip was too much for me. I also mentioned that I planned to repeat each day until I felt I had mastered it. In case you think that I am a wimp and to put this in perspective, I am seventy-five years old.

I do eighty minutes on the treadmill in the early morning Monday through Thursday, and again on Saturday. My plan was to go from the treadmill to the mat and complete the thirty minutes there before taking a shower. By early morning I mean I am usually on the treadmill by 5:00 a.m. 

I started including the yoga into my routine on Monday morning. It just seems right to start on a Monday. 

The knee pads I had ordered didn't really work, they were not cushioned enough and kept moving. I replaced them with folded towels as padding and this worked well enough. 

The first week I repeated Day One each day, for the four days. By Thursday I was satisfied that I had mastered it, with just a few adjustments. 

Friday is my lazy day. If you think I have forgotten about Sunday, no I haven't. I don't workout Sunday but it is when I catch up on household chores, so not as lazy as Friday.

On Saturday I decided to try the yoga for seniors and take on Day Two of Move the following week, on Monday. This proved to be a very satisfactory arrangement. Yoga for seniors was definitely not as challenging as Day One while still requiring some effort. 

On Monday I started Day Two. Again I repeated that session for my four workout days. I felt satisfied by Thursday, that I was ready to move onto Day Three the next Monday, keeping Saturday as a senior day.

Having completed two weeks I am astonished at how much better I feel already. If you had told me before I started that I would feel like this after just two weeks, I would not have believed you. 

After the first week I stopped using the towels completely (for my knees). While I do have to move carefully, my knees are not nearly as sore as there were at first. Even more surprising, my worthless hand is much happier for the stretching being imposed upon it. 

Each day I am finding it a little bit easier to get back to a standing position from being seated on the floor. That is something that is surprisingly difficult to do as you get older. I am now hopeful that continuing yoga will work more wonders. My muscles are letting me know that they are being worked. Arms, legs and core muscles all have that almost satisfying, ache. 

When I googled the benefits of yoga I found this:

• Improves strength, balance and flexibility
• Helps with back pain relief
• Can ease arthritis symptoms
• Benefits heart health
• Relaxes you to help you sleep better
• Can mean more energy and brighter moods
• Helps you manage stress
• Connects you with a supportive community
• Promotes better self-care

If you think it is odd to google the benefits when I am already experiencing them, I agree, I guess I wanted to be sure that I was not imagining it. With all of the above benefits I am surprised that yoga is not prescribed for the elderly.