DAY 170

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Today is DAY 170 of my trying to make doing a session of yoga daily a HABIT. Since it’s a definite part of my afternoon now, I’ll TRY not to bore you with how many days it has been anymore. We’ll just call it a ‘determined effort’ and leave it at that.

To this I’ve added warm-up and weights videos on one day and a session on the elliptical the next throughout the week. I’ll never be old enough that sparkly stars on my desk calendar aren’t motivating, so I’ll continue that. :0)

My meals are such that MyFitnessPal usually says, “It looks like you’re not eating enough.” when I tally what I’m eating. Right now that seems to be a mental ‘go-ahead-and-stuff-your-face’ light, resulting in my scales being even more snarky than usual.

What I need here is a transformation to “exercise nut” who has to REMIND herself to eat, and then prefers nutritious, low-calorie foods that only build muscle and encourage the fat to fade away, never to be seen again. If wishes were fishes….

The only New Year’s Resolution I’m going to make for 2023 is to take ONE DAY AT A TIME. That will be my meme, my mantra. To spend each day well, as fully in the moment as possible, enjoying all the good stuff around me, handling whatever happens as best I can. BREATHING a lot. Taking the time to look around and SMILE. And try to give that smile to others.

27 Seconds

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I’ve added trying to hold the plank pose to my daily yoga practices. Opinions vary as to my efforts thus far.

GLASS HALF EMPTY: Pathetic that I’m only able to count to 27 while holding the pose. AND I’m probably counting too fast.

GLASS HALF FULL: I started with a count of only 10 and am now able to hold it to the count of 27 before collapsing. It’s all relative.

GLASS IS REFILLABLE: I’m slowly building a bit of strength in my core. Just like everything else at my age, it’ll take awhile to get to anything reasonable. I remind myself that when I first started with yoga stretches, I was unable to –

• Even THINK about bending over and touching my toes
• Put my hands over my head and onto the floor while lying on my back
• Get down on the floor and up again without the use of a crane (or some furniture)
• Get close to doing a sit up or other abdominal exercises or poses
• Even THINK about sitting on my knees

SO –

Today is DAY 125 of my daily yoga practice. I’m about to leave to get a glorious massage. I’m about the luckiest old lady on the planet. :0)

I hope that you are doing good things for yourself, too.

DAY 102

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As I look back to when I first started my old lady yoga stretches, trying to build a ‘habit,’ I see several improvements –

When I started, I –

• Had trouble getting on the floor on the mat
• had to wait a full minute or so for lying on my back to quit hurting
• could not put my arms behind me over my head
• could not bring my knees up high enough to grab them
• could not even THINK about touching my toes
• could not lift the front of my body up on my arms while lying on my stomach
• had trouble balancing while on hands and knees for any stretching

Et cetera,. Et cetera, Et cetera. (Like Yul Brenner in “The King and I.”

I’m still old – even older now, but I have made a lot of progress. Each day I feel I’m a bit looser than I was the previous practice. It’s not a miracle, but it makes me feel better – more flexible, with less pain, able to balance much better. Some of my muscles are getting stronger. It has started to offset any overdoing I do in other things, bringing me back to being able to relax.

Daily yoga is not a habit – yet. I seem to be one of the harder nuts to crack about how long it takes to make something a habit. But I’m definitely seeing a difference and determined to keep going.

Time to go practice!

Happy Thought

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Today will be DAY 26 in my efforts to make practicing yoga daily a HABIT/ROUTINE/REGIMEN, rather than merely something I “should’ do.

I managed to do my practices this week in spite of being under the weather. I did a somewhat abbreviated version, not doing as many repetitions as I do when I’m feeling well, but I did the whole routine and felt better for it.

I’m starting to believe that I can actually get to the point where I don’t even THINK about making time for it – I just DO it.

Jim Rohn – http://www.wow4u.com – Inspirational Words of Wisdom