Yoga...and Cats

Well, I began yoga today, at home. I had purchased a yoga mat and DVD nearly a year ago, and had not even viewed the DVD, or unrolled the mat other than to inspect it when first purchased. Shameful, I know. But today is the beginning of a new path. Or at least the attempt at a new path. Balance.

It began with gathering what I would need - a yoga mat, a blanket, a chair, and a belt/scarf. I also needed to reposition the telly a bit so I could see what the heck Leann was doing. The cats were rather interested in what I was up to. I spread the yoga mat on the floor, and they immediately moved in - "mat? for me? how nice of you! Let me go spread myself and my fur all over it". I shooed them away by flicking a couple of toy mice in another direction.

Forget it, what I was doing was clearly more interesting. "What is she doing on the floor? I should go walk over her so she knows that I am here. Let me begin with stepping over her face, lingering every so slightly so she can smell my belly."

We began with breathing exercises. It was hard to concentrate on breathing in and out, being mindful of the path my breaths were taking...when I'm shoving cats out of my face, kicking at Henry to stop clawing at my yoga mat, and trying to hear what Leann is telling me. They finally relent and opt to observe from just off the yoga mat. Fine. Improvement.

I found the pose for the breathing exercise to be somewhat excruciating, due to my lower back pain. I'll have to find a way to resolve that...and playing hookey from physio probably wasn't a good idea.

Then we were into cat/dog pose, child pose, mountain pose, and sunrise pose. Yoga may look like a lot of standing and sitting around, but I was sweating by the time we were done. Leann assures me that I will get better at it with time and practice. I'm sure she is right...but my body is disagreeing with Leann at the moment.

Yoga, day one, complete.