down dog

the intensive 30-day yoga program is on. today will be day 4, and despite a persistent mild lower-back strain from still not being able to bring my legs out of a shoulder stand in any type of controlled manner, i am feeling pretty freaking awesome. the scale's a little lower, yes, but my mind is very clear, and that's the real benefit of all of this.

i'm not super-enthused about the spiritual aspects of yoga. i don't really like chanting "om," or talking about being in a space of god, or all that. my feelings on the sky-daddy thing are well documented. but leaving all that aside, there is something really mentally freeing about a 75-minute yoga class. i don't know if it's psychosomatic or real, but i have my theories. mainly, i think it's that yoga forces me to devote every ounce of mental and physical energy to the practice. check my balance, check my breathing, etc. i need to be dragged kicking and screaming out of my own head every once in awhile, and bridge pose makes that possible.

i've started reading hannah, just breathe... more regularly, and she does a fantastic job of encapsulating this sort of thing. better living through yoga and all that. i've started and stopped with yoga probably 10 times in the last decade. it's finally starting to click with me what the point is. that'll keep me coming back for sure now.

and hell - it's almost swimsuit season, right? :)