I did yoga for the first time this morning in many weeks. My poison ivy finally had recovered to the point that I felt safe putting some pressure on my wrists - they are still "weeping" but far less in solid pain.

It was wonderful. My body felt so much more relaxed and unstressed after I finished. I think bodies need to stretch.

I'm going to work to get it back to a daily habit.

I do think that I should start doing something like this.

I went to Pilates until my health prevented me, but I think that I should start up again now.

Yoga can be very gentle and stretchy, so there should be ways to do it to work around various health issues. What I do is more of a limbering / stretching type of yoga, fairly gentle. It greatly helps with sore back and neck muscles.

Hmmm OK so much for my daily habit. I haven't done it again, I've been beyond busy. Hopefully now that I'm feeling better and am no longer itchy I will be able to plan out my days more properly.

With my first book launching in 3 days, it probably won't be soon though! I am sure I will be quite busy up until Dec 1st

WELLLLL great to know your poision ivy deal is finally winding down...geeeesh that must of been awful trying to sleep as well...

had a friend bring me something interesting today...someone made her one so she made me one and says it works great for those small achy areas...

sort of a small pillow but filled with RICE of all things

i remember when buckwheat was the thing

needless to say you dont wash it but what you do is...place it in the micro for a bit to warm the rice and then place it on your neck or knee elbow where ever you ache and she uses it as a foot warmer when going to bed also...

which i cant stand warm anything in bed i like the entire room being cool, i have fans in there and even open the window during the worst of winter days...sheets and pillows too, need to be cool...i could never use foam for a mattress or pillow...so i wont be using it for that either.

as far as stretching goes...my gawd now there is a visual...my body has taken such a beating as i grew up even into mid 50's if i go to stretch anyyyyything lol...thats it ...ill be in traction ..and ohhhhhhhh it feels soooo good to even do a early morning stretch...

Dear Illusive -

I have a neck snake that is like that, filled with some sort of rice substance and it goes in the microwave to warm up. It's great for soothing a worn out neck. I've been fortunate, once I started doing yoga my neck and shoulders don't ache much at all. They used to ache like crazy after a day of work on the computer. Now that I've not been doing yoga my neck is bothering me again, and I was thinking about using that. But I realize it makes more sense to do the yoga and fix the real problem, vs applying band-aid solutions.

I think stretching is good for all of us - just start slow and gentle!

My normal yoga routine is an hour and I'm so swamped for time right now that I can't imagine "losing" an hour - but it's my own body that's suffering. What I have to do is do just 15 minutes of yoga, to get at least SOME done. I can do that. I'll put that into my schedule later. I have to do at least 1 final pass-through on my book to make sure it's ready to publish. Then I really MUST get it into CreateSpace and Kindle and Apple's queues, because they all take 2-3 days to approve something and it has to go live on Dec 1st!

i think you will be fine if your a day late even on those books...all things in time and it will get done huh

Dear Illusive -

The thing is I already had told everyone for months what the date was, so if I missed it, it would be fairly obvious. Also, with the next one coming out on Dec 8th, it will start a backlog if I start slipping

The first book did go live on Dec 1st! Hurrah! The Kindle version of Seeking the Truth is live. The paperback version is still NOT live, which is frustrating. This is an area Lulu is better than Amazon - Lulu's book would have been live in minutes. Ah well, I have to wait it out now.

well congratulations on getting that done...and basically the hard lumps are tackled now its againnn hurry up and wait...here ya go again giggle...first the shed now this...all things in time...

This thread is a good reminder for me to stretch. My plan is to do some kind of yoga every day, even if it's a simple stretch, or tree pose while in line, or downward dog before bed.

I don't think a goal can get simpler! I just have to remember to do it. It seems to take a long time until something is a habit.

Anyway, I will stop right now and do downward dog!

I also do Yoga for the stress relieve.
I always feel mentally better after doing the yoga.
I feel my mental condition is improved and I am going on the way to get rid the stress and depression.

I have also fallen out of the habit of doing my yoga, which is quite sad. I can feel the aches in my neck and back as a result.

So I will aim to get back into my just-waking-up yoga sessions, even if they are just short ones. My body needs it!

What types of yoga are you guys doing as we head into autumn?

I am installing a new graphics card and as soon as this is set I'm heading out onto my back porch to do some yoga! The sun is shining, the dragonflies are flitting, and it's a lovely day to get some yoga in.

Will you be doing yoga today?

The yoga session was lovely! Autumn is definitely here, though - it was a little crisp. I'm enjoying some Chanakara Guanabana tea now to warm back up.

It's funny how quickly time can flit by when life becomes busy. I would think that I "just" did yoga, but clearly it was a while ago. It has gotten really rainy here, and the upstairs spare bedroom got filled with random stuff.

I am doing my focused best to clear out "stuff" from rooms so I can use them again for things like yoga. I have made some progress with that spare bedroom but it still has random stuff in it. Time to focus more strongly on getting rid of stuff.

Still, right now I will do ten minutes of yoga, while I wait for the mailing process to finish so I can do my meditation.

OK, that was lovely. Some child's pose, cat-cow, warrior pose, and other things. It didn't take much time and I definitely feel much better overall. It goes to show how even small blocks of time can be used well.

I'm slowly getting my life back into a more gentle schedule. I was able to do yoga in the morning three times this week. Even a half hour helps me feel much better, and the hamstrings are starting to stretch out.

I highly recommend finding little nooks and crannies to get yoga into your world!

Here is my current routine. I do "both sides" where appropriate (i.e. tree pose on right leg, then on left leg).

* twists (arm flapping on side)
* moon pose
* tree pose
* sun salutations
* warrior pose 2
* seated twist
* cat-cow (10x)
* rolling cat-cow
* bridge
* hurdler's stretch
* lying down twist
* savasana

I think that's it! Plus I work in some neck stretches.