Can I make time for yoga every day?
Most People in the Western World have more than they can do in one day. Adding exercise, is often so overwhelming, we just don’t do it. A gym, the cost of a gym membership, people watching me, where will I find the time, yoga classes, yoga mats, yoga clothes?! The list of reasons not to goes on! I am here to say that I have been in the same boat! During my pregnancy with my daughter in 2004/05, I was on bedrest and experienced preeclampsia, both causes of speedy weight gain! For the first time in my life, I weighed over 200 pounds! After my daughter was born, I slowly lost weight by taking walks with her every day.
When she was 9 months old I had lost about 35 pounds from the walks, when a tumor was discovered in my leg. I had 2 surgeries and it turns out, 2 golf ball sized tumors that were removed from just above the bone on my upper thigh. My surgeon made a 5 inch incision all the way through the muscle. So, I couldn’t walk for 3 weeks, with a full 8 weeks before I could really walk well, after each surgery! That certainly put my weight loss on hold and after I healed from that, I slowly began taking walks again, one of my favorite exercises!
Though I was extremely grateful to get through those surgeries with my leg and health intact, I had another 40 pounds to lose! I wanted to get back into yoga, but the time and cost, as a stay at home mom, made me hesitate. Then, I remembered a sun salutation that my friend, a yoga teacher in Los Angles, had taught me! I could do the sun salutation ( a series of poses meant to flow together) in two and a half minutes! I could do it in my bedroom after my daughter fell asleep at night! It was quiet ( and with the invention of the iPod, you can listen to music while you yoga and not wake a sleeping child or disturb a sports watching husband!). I didn’t need any special equipment or fancy work out clothes! And so I began. Two and half minutes every night. If that’s all I did, at least I exercised and kept in the habit. If I did more, by either holding each pose for longer or doing repetitions of the sun salutation, I felt great!
Now, I do yoga almost every day as part of my walks. I love to do it outside! I feel better and stronger than I have in my life! Wisconsin winter is coming…plan on seeing me out there in my thermals and snowshoes stretching away! If you can find two and a half minutes in your day, you can do yoga every day, in your home, hotel, outside, anywhere!
P.S. With the addition of yoga to my walks, I lost the rest of the pregnancy weight and got back to my ideal weight! It can happen! -Amy Roemer September 30, 2009
To create your own yoga sequence, go to http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/sequence_builder