Sara is so right. Yoga doesn’t mean that you are rubber band flexible, it means you want to stretch. I have been doing it for nigh on 20 years, and I still have problems getting my shoulders straight and my heels on the floor in Downward Dog. I think I look more like a tent listing to the side than a downward facing dog.
The thing is, I do a lot of stuff. Not just the running, or weights, or riding Charby. There’s the carrying the horse food and shavings around. Stacking hay. Weeding the garden (if the snow ever goes away). Lugging wood: first to the wood shed all summer and then to the stove all winter. Twenty-five years farming with my Dad. None of this is very good for my body. (Although all of it is good for my mind!)
My massage therapist says my muscles are like 2×4’s. Now, my mother has been likened to concrete by the same therapist, so I figure I 2×4 isn’t that bad. Right? So when I stretch out in a Yoga pose, even at this point in my practice, it can still be difficult. Time of day matters as well:
please don’t ask me to touch my toes first thing in the morning.
Give me a couple of hours and I can put my hands flat on the floor. Imagine what I would be like if I didn’t practice Yoga! The point being, Yoga can be awesome for a variety of reasons, flexibility among them. If you like a good Cross-Fit session, Yoga is probably going to be a little slow for you–or not. The only way to find out is to try. And don’t be intimidated by people who can put their feet behind their ears. They are few and far between, the rest of people practicing Yoga are just like us.
Some people lose weight by doing something called power yoga.
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