The Next Step

If you've been reading me, you know I'm looking for new ways to make my life more active. Another thing I've been wanting is meditation/relaxation. I need to learn how to shut off.

I've been interested in yoga for a while, but I'm not the buff-n-bitchin' "I'll scale three mountains this weekend and jog to work before my evening yoga session" type West Coast BC person, so I'm a bit loathe to haul my ghetto bootay ass into a yoga class any time soon with all the Lululemon hottie-bodies, thanks. Yoga, though, offers so much -- better breathing techniques, which are useful in life (and sex), control over all parts of the body, total body awareness, total toning, endurance, and more. (The guys I know who do yoga say it's the best thing they ever did for their sex lives, by the way.)

I've visited a couple places looking for DVDs lately and it's gone badly, but I was determined to find stuff that'd work for me. Then I surfed onto a local Vancouver site not too long ago and just began a membership today. MyYogaOnline.com is full of videos for all different styles of yoga, and all different levels. Looking for a no-standing beginner yoga session geared to relaxation and meditation? No problem. Want something a little tougher, keep looking through the site. There are files for Yoga at Work and even Pilates, or even Pilates and Yoga mixed. Everything comes with descriptions and helpful pointers like how to set up a space for Pilates, or that this video uses yoga props and what ones, how to set aside time to a fulfilling workout session, things like that.

Very cool shit. Now that I have a wireless laptop connection, I can do it anywhere. I'll be trying my first video tonight and hope to build this into my routine in the next little while. At $9.95 a month, it's cheaper than any yoga membership I've seen anywhere (usually about $16-25 a week here in Vancouver...). Certainly fits my budget! And yoga at work... the shortest clip is 5 minutes, the longest 13 minutes. Terrific... log in at work and spend 5 minutes rejuvenating yourself. I could get into this stuff.

...It's the next day and I just did my first yoga session by way of MyYogaOnline.com and I'm all blissed out. Work will be a challenge, but my back and shoulders should feel better throughout the day than normal. The video never skipped or jumped, the audio was clear, and the beginners' video I watched included a lot of information and awareness-building on how the body should feel throughout the process. I'm actually looking forwards to trying a new video before work tomorrow. Very cool.