Yoga is Like Riding a Bicycle

Yesterday was Day 1 of my Ultimate Yogi 108 Day Yoga Challenge and I'm happy to report that I survived! Of course, this morning it might have felt like I crashed my bike and fell down a ditch, but I'm still proud and excited by the fact that I got through my first class (with lots of modifications, of course). My first thoughts and impressions were as follows . . .

First, yoga is similar to riding a bicycle. You really don't forget how to do it and it comes back pretty quickly. It's been nearly one year since I did any real yoga. My neck was in terrible shape for most of last year and not only did that cause me to get very weak, but my flexibility also went down the tubes. Most of my yoga session last night was a bit of a roller coaster, going from, "Oh my goodness, I can't even touch my toes" to "Hey, this isn't so bad. It's coming back quickly (as my fingers were wrapped under my feet in standing bend). There were times when I felt good, like I knew the strength was still there, just maybe dormant and needing to be awaken. That excited me. Then 5 minutes later my arms and/or legs were shaking so bad I thought I would collapse. I constantly bounced back and fourth between feeling good and feeling bad, but I'm well accustomed to riding a bike and I know that you have to be strong, more mentally than physically, to go the distance.

So far I'm impressed with the overall "program" that the Ultimate Yogi offers. Now granted, I only completed one day, but yesterday was the first day that I opened the package. The included DVDs have me intrigued and excited to try all of them. Each DVD is labeled with things like: Cross-Train, Cardio, Vitality, Flexibility, Hard Core, etc. It reminds me so much of P90X in that every day concentrates on a different aspect of fitness. And it's set up similarly in that it calls for the Ab work (Hard Core) 3 times per week, in addition to the yoga class. It's also reminiscent of P90X because I'm curious and eager to see what tomorrow will bring. That is the best part of it - the newness of it all. I love not knowing what to expect during each class and that is also just like riding a bike. Every time I ride a brand new route I find the entire trip to be easy and enjoyable. But, as soon as that same route becomes routine and I start to know every pothole, every hill, every gear I should be in, what time it should take, etc. it suddenly loses its enjoyment. It suddenly becomes a difficult chore. I have a feeling that it's going to take months for this Ultimate Yogi to become routine.

I'm excited to get home to begin my Day 2 challenge.