For a while now, I’ve been experiencing mild aches and pains when I get up in the morning. It’s nothing serious, just annoying. And it’s making me start to feel old.

I was talking about this recently with a friend, and she mentioned a yoga program she’s doing. Apparently, she’s been feeling a few aches and pains herself, and came across a 31-day yoga program online. She said that since she’s been following it, she’s felt great. So I’m following it, too.

I’m not entirely unfamiliar with yoga. I took a class years ago at the health club I belonged to at the time. I attended the class faithfully until the day I got rear-ended at a stoplight – ironically, on my way to yoga class. I didn’t fault the class for the accident, but I ended up in physical therapy, and some of the yoga poses caused pressure on my whiplashed neck. So I dropped out.

But I had been rethinking yoga even before my friend mentioned it. I read a report not long ago about a study showing that people who do yoga as well as aerobic exercise have vastly better results – in terms of weight loss, strength, flexibility, heart health, and other factors – than people who did just one or the other. Also, the health club I now belong to offers a yoga class, but I’d prefer to warm up on a beginner’s level class before joining the one at the health club. So the timing seems to be perfect.

The online program comes with a daily email and pep talk, followed by a video with that day’s program. Because of some recent travel and the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m almost at the end of the daily emails, but still in the first week of actual yoga. I considered whether I should go back to the beginning and start over any time I miss a day’s class. That would be extra motivation to be sure to do the program every day, but it might also get me stuck in Week 1 for the rest of my life.

So I’m just going to do the best I can. If I miss a day or two, I’ll pick up where I left off, and I’ll try not to let any more time than that go by in between sessions. Especially since I know that of all the types of exercise available to each of us, the best and most effective program is the one we’ll actually do.

I’m hoping my yoga habit will be ingrained by the start of the New Year. If it is, it should be easy to fulfill a New Year’s Resolution to get stronger, healthier, and slimmer in the coming year.

And once those morning aches and pains are gone, I’ll be feeling younger than ever.

December 1, 2017
©Betty Liedtke, 2017

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