221 days of yoga so far this year
Aug. 21st, 2022 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jemerylI've missed 12 days so far, but at an average of 20 minutes a day, that's 73ish hours overall.
What I've noticed is that the long sessions are great, but even sneaking in a few cat-cows is shockingly helpful compared to doing nothing because I don't have time for a 'full session.'
This time last year I was struggling with a lot of back pain, mostly on my right side. Upper back, lower back, the works. It's mostly gone now, which is great! Mobility and core strength are improving as well.
As someone who has a long history of overexercising, hurting myself and burning out, I'm finding it healing to ignore the pretzelly moves and focus on the basics. Even corpse pose (which as we all know is everyone's favourite because it's literally just lying on the floor with your eyes closed!) can give me so much if I just sink into it, focus on my breathing and fully experience what happens when I allow my body to be completely supported by the ground.
I've also found it's great for dealing with difficult emotions if I cut out the complicated stuff. It's hard to emotionally regulate when trying to become a human pretzel.
However [the real part]: I've also noticed that I blank out pain. This is unhealthy because pain is the body telling you to stop doing something because you're damaging yourself, whereas I've always seen it as a sign to go harder. I have trouble recognizing the threshold where it *starts* to hurt, which means that all along I needed to stop and pull it back sooner. But that's what's important to learn and it's helping my pay attention to where my limits actually are, instead of where I think they should be.
What I've noticed is that the long sessions are great, but even sneaking in a few cat-cows is shockingly helpful compared to doing nothing because I don't have time for a 'full session.'
This time last year I was struggling with a lot of back pain, mostly on my right side. Upper back, lower back, the works. It's mostly gone now, which is great! Mobility and core strength are improving as well.
As someone who has a long history of overexercising, hurting myself and burning out, I'm finding it healing to ignore the pretzelly moves and focus on the basics. Even corpse pose (which as we all know is everyone's favourite because it's literally just lying on the floor with your eyes closed!) can give me so much if I just sink into it, focus on my breathing and fully experience what happens when I allow my body to be completely supported by the ground.
I've also found it's great for dealing with difficult emotions if I cut out the complicated stuff. It's hard to emotionally regulate when trying to become a human pretzel.
However [the real part]: I've also noticed that I blank out pain. This is unhealthy because pain is the body telling you to stop doing something because you're damaging yourself, whereas I've always seen it as a sign to go harder. I have trouble recognizing the threshold where it *starts* to hurt, which means that all along I needed to stop and pull it back sooner. But that's what's important to learn and it's helping my pay attention to where my limits actually are, instead of where I think they should be.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-23 10:15 am (UTC)Hunching over a keyboard/at a desk does seem to cause a lot of issues, glad you're able to find those moments of relaxation and freedom from that computer pose