Yoga?!?

If you're anything like me, when you hear the word "yoga" you immediately think of a roomful of people (mostly women) sitting in strange, pretzel-like positions, with their eyes closed, fingers pointing upward, breathing deeply and meditating. It's always seemed a bit too exotic for me, and I've never had much interest in participating. My first impressions were only solidified when soon after we moved to this ward, there was an Enrichment activity with a sister in our ward (who has since moved away, I never knew her well) who was a yoga instructor. She tried, in vain (at least in my case), to get all us lovely Relief Society sisters to do yoga. I remember just feeling uncomfortable, inflexible, and frustrated that she wanted me to "empty my mind". How do you do that, really?

About a year later, Brian and I decided to take up running. This is something I never, ever thought I'd do. The motivation behind it is a long story, but the quick version is that we set our sights on a half-marathon which was about 5 months off. I have yet to reach the half-marathon goal because I got pregnant with Weston a month before the race (I'm planning to keep my goal January 2009 though--keep your fingers crossed for me) but I did at least get up to the point where running became my regular form of exercise.

What does this have to do with yoga, you wonder? Well, fast forward to a month after Weston was born...I was itching to start running again. Not long after I got going, though, I had a new problem. People often talk about how running is hard on your body, but I'd never had much trouble, aside from a brief bout with shin splints at the beginning. But now I was having trouble with pain in my lower back. I couldn't figure how it was related to the running, but it was undeniable that the pain always popped up after a run. I ignored it for a few months before deciding it would be wise to see the doctor about it. They sent me in for physical therapy, and it seemed to be improving, though never going away completely...and, strangely, though the PT exercises helped me work out the pain after a run, the overall incidence and intensity of the pain seemed to be increasing. I was getting worried that I would have to eventually give up running, which I absolutely did not want to do.

Enter yoga. A friend of mine from church, Chelise, is a yoga instructor, though not currently working because she recently had a baby. She decided to offer a weekly yoga class, free of charge, at the church. In all honesty, I only went the first time because I like her a lot, and thought it couldn't hurt to go once. I was in for a big surprise. Not only did we not just sit around like pretzels, breathing deeply, this was a full body workout. I was literally dripping with sweat by the time we were 20 minutes in, and by the time the hour was up I was completely exhausted. It felt great! And, best of all, I noticed that for the first time since I started running again, I was completely free of back pain. It lasted all day, and on my next run, though the pain came back, it was much milder than before. The next week, the effects lasted three or four days. This was better physical therapy than anything I'd ever experienced.

So, here's my plug for the day. My friend loaned me the book that she bases a lot of her yoga training around

and I've been doing some at home in addition to the weekly class. I LOVE IT!! I think yoga has saved my back, and my ability to continue running. I highly recommend it if you're feeling adventurous... :)

Thanks, Chelise!