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If our child tells us she is hungry, we give her food. If our bodies complain of pain or stiffness we can also give them the proper treatment. It may be to move. Your own activity is part of the “feeding” of your practice. Without movement, the arteries in the body lose their proper tension sufficient to allow the proper flow of blood. The system literally becomes weaker. Noticeable changes can take place in two weeks’ time. Even athletes detrain (lose their strength, endurance, and general athletic status) after two weeks. How much more would the body in less athletic shape require to lose strength and vitality?

How do you want to get up and find something to do? In what way would you like this to happen?

Yoga, as a general rule, is not sufficient cardio-vascular exercise. Today I would like to challenge you to find something you enjoy, that gets your heart rate up, for at least 30 minutes most days. If you can’t think of anything, you can consider this a sort of fun, adventuresome assignment for the weekend. Find at least three activities you like enough to get a habit of doing. And begin to do them most days (4+). You will be really glad you did. If you keep showing up, you will find what was once a struggle becomes easy with continued effort.

Pose of the Day: Sun Salutations – you can find an abundance of these on the web. You can work towards 30 or 50, or even 108, as I did, as a means to get some cardio using yoga. You will still need to supplement sometimes.

Yogic Concept of the Day: Even with my yoga practice, I must still get out in the world and do something.

Photo Credit: queenofthelibrary