Blog on the Lillypad
Friday, July 16, 2004
 | Adjustments
Okay, now I can shave my legs in the shower, paint my toe nails, fasten the straps on my sandals while crouching (instead of having to sit on a chair to do it), and pick up anything I drop on the floor. This gloriously liberated life comes at a price, of course. Monday nights through Friday mornings are devoted to working out in one form or another, mostly with the focus on either strengthening or stretching my back. But this week I really had to take stock of the constant chaos caused by my burgeoning schedule. There are piles of laundry all over the house; I cannot find my water bottles; I'm almost out of bread; in fact, I have no groceries aside from three bottles of carrot juice and some frozen Chinese dumplings. |
Last night after yoga class I was exhausted but so stressed from the out-of-control nature of my new fitness routine that I stayed up for a while to try to work out a schedule. It's simple: any time my gym bag has used clothing in it, I just need to put fresh clothing and towels in it and put it in the car. I've even toyed with getting a second gym bag and blow dryer so that I can have a backup on hand.
Last night's yoga class was hard in specific postures but overall it was not as difficult to get through. I don't watch the clock as I often did for the first few lessons. The most dismaying thing about the class was that when the teacher stayed with me to get me into textbook postures of the stances that require stretching the right hamstring, I was in such agony that I could not hold the posture for more than four or five seconds. (Did it just fine on the left side.) My right leg is still ultra-tight, all the way up to the spinal erector muscles that fasten at the top of he hip bone and form a sort of suspension system up the spine to support the vertebrae.
It's this ultra-tightness that has jeopardized my crooked back, putting more stress on it than the curve can withstand. Even after months of stretching by conventional means and using trigger point massage, I am still incredibly tight. So it's still a danger.
The good news is that yoga will get it to stretch. But I was surprised to realize how bad it still is. I can stretch my legs fine by swinging a leg up over any handy cross bar and leaning into the stretch. But the yoga stretches go much more deeply into the muscle.
Knowledge of a setback is sometimes disheartening, but knowledge itself always pushes us forward. And though I felt some discouragement last night to see how tight the leg and hamstrings are, I do keep making small improvements in each class. And I enjoy the class.
