Routines

When I can't make it to a live yoga class, I use DVDs. I particularly like Barbara Benagh's Yoga for Stress Relief, which has a menu of short segments so you can custom-design your own class each time you use it. The section for managing lower-back pain has been very beneficial for my sorry spine.

Another thing I've found helpful: After I've been to a yoga class that I particularly liked, I try to recall the sequence and jot it down so I can repeat it at home. Ditto with specific instructions that seemed especially enlightening.

I've also developed a small collection of yoga posters with some basic sequences. Just looking at them makes me feel the benefits!



Well, you are certainly not alone in that! My home practice has become sporadic too. In fact, just the other day I made my way back to the mat (after a long absence) and was knocked out of a lunge and onto the floor by the sudden noise of a leaf blower outside my window.


I ended up posting about leaf blowers and yoga at home, (http://www.wherewegonow.com/debbies-blog/leaf-blowers-and-yoga-home) because it made me realize in a big way what the problem is: too many distractions. Between work, family, laundry, etc., etc., there is always something else to focus my attention on (I fell out of my lunge when turned my head toward the window to see where the noise was coming from – big mistake!)

The only time I have successfully kept up a regular home yoga practice was when I met the distractions head on and minimized them. For me, that means getting up in the morning, putting on my yoga clothes, getting my kids out to school and then getting right to the mat. It helps that I now have a den set up for yoga, where I can close the door and separate myself from the rest of the house. I need that separation because I have never jumped into my work for the day and been able to pull myself out to do yoga.

The other thing that helps me is remembering how beneficial it is to start my work day with yoga. It relaxes, yet energizes me. It’s a true gift of my cancer and one which I know I don’t want to sacrifice to my busy life. I need yoga and I’m grateful to have found it.