Moot Thoughts & Musings

How awesome yoga is!!! Seriously! Where has this been all my life!?

I've been wanting some kind of exercise thing I can do for this pregnancy, but have had so much back pain that even taking walks sounded overwhelming. And I'm not really in a position to go joining gyms or classes. Someone recommended this dvd: Prenatal Yoga. And it has been so fantastic!! I can actually do it. There's no one shouting beats to you as you try to do those dreadfully coordinated aerobic workouts (right, I mean, left, no right!!AGH!). I love that it points out helpful things for dealing with pregnancy ailments (e.g. this stretch will help with digestion) and for future labor (e.g. this will help to relax and open the birth canal). You can pick your own pace and don't have to do every position the whole way, start where you feel comfortable. And the other thing I'm really loving is practice breathing, because I know this will benefit me in labor. You can't just say, "yea, when I'm labor, I'll breathe through contractions." I really need to practice to get my breathing discipline up. And then, the practice ends in relaxation. This is totally my kind of exercise. I can do it, I don't have to be perfect, I'm not sore, and it feels great!

On my dvd there's a relaxing practice and an energizing practice. I've been doing the relaxing one every evening, but I wanted to do the energizing one in the morning, which is a little easier said than done with toddler around. Some mornings he's at school, which is fine, but the other day, when he was home, I thought I'd see how far I could get. Ellis was hilarious! He plopped down right on the floor next to me and started doing it, too!!! I wasn't getting much focus in because of laughing so hard. There is nothing like seeing him whip off his shoes and socks, clasp his dimpled hands around his cute bare feet, and wiggle his bum trying to do the butterfly pose. We got about half-way through the practice before he gave up and started climbing all over me. I don't know if he thought we were doing a way-more-fun version of Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes or what.