I went to yoga today for the first time in weeks.  A combination of preference for tennis and a recurring schedule conflict has conspired against my regular practice.  Although it is only Yoga 1 and I am no yogi, it was clear as I moved into my first downward dog that I had lost whatever mojo, limited flexibility I had previously gained.  My shoulders rebelled in pain and my arms shook.  I wondered once again if I could make it through the whole class.  Fortunately, even by Yoga 1 standards, this was to be a light class, almost as if the instructor knew I needed to ease back in.  

At the beginning of each class she invites us to silently set an intention. Mine today was to maintain an awareness of my breathing and to have integrity with my body.  In other words, to honor where I am now.  A couple of middle aged women to my left were obviously new to yoga.  I saw them struggling to master the positions and do them "right".  The younger woman to my right has sometimes substituted as the instructor for the class.    Her positions are "perfect" and she appears to be deep within her practice.  It is a thing of beauty to watch her flexibility and fluidity of movement.  I realize that I am positioned correctly, near the beginners, but more comfortable in my knowledge of my imperfection.  At the end of class, dripping with sweat from my exertions and breathing deeply, I realize  for these few minutes I have been true to my intention.

There is a song I like by Alexi Murdoch called "Breathe".  The refrain is Don't Forget to Breathe and after listening to it over and over sometimes I get it stuck in my head.  As bad as that might sound it is actually good advice, so there are worse things that could be stuck there.

I am a recreational tennis player.  When I am not playing as well as I should I make little adjustments  to try and improve my game.  Last weekend I was playing in a match and in one such moment I reminded myself to breathe before starting a point.  What often happens when I am about to serve or am receiving a serve is I tense up in anticipation  and then tend to overplay a particular point. By focusing on my breathing I found that I relaxed and started to play better.  As you might imagine this concept has broader applications than tennis or sports.  

In my yoga classes our instructor has us focus on a three part breath called dirga pranayama.  Basically, you focus your attention on your breath as it 1) starts in your abdomen 2) expands your ribs and finally 3) fills  your lungs fully.  Exhale and repeat.  On one level, it is ridiculous to focus on breathing since you cannot make yourself stop breathing for more than about a minute.  After that, your body takes over and forces you to breathe in order to stay alive.  Sometimes when I focus on my breathing I start to freak myself out because I am artificially interfering with something that I otherwise do naturally, without thought.  

However, what sustained three part breathing eliminates is shallow breathing which we tend to do under stress.  After several minutes of focused , conscious deep breathing, I almost always feel better, more refreshed and alive.  So whether it is a tennis match, an important meeting at work or just walking around the grocery store shopping, don't forget to breathe.

There was an article in our paper recently about the god-like powers some people confer on their yoga instructors and the large egos that can ensue.   An example was given about a male instructor who walked up to a female student mid-posture and said loud enough for others to hear, "Your sweat smells like meat!"  The horrified student never returned.

I do not think my instructor suffers from such delusions of grandeur, but I have worried that she and others might notice that I smell like bacon.  I often cook it for my kids and myself on Sunday morning before my class and the smell clings to me.

I eat meat regularly, and while I enjoy the taste, I am morally conflicted about it.  I saw the movie Food, Inc. and I believe the way animals are treated in route to the mass production of food is unethical.  Yesterday I bought and cooked chicken breasts for my family.  Although they were "on sale" the size of the breast were larger than anything that could occur in nature.  Assuming that the birds were hormonally enhanced, then I wonder how much of the hormones my family ingested and what that is doing to our bodies over time.  Snort.  Because I have written down my diet you can see how much beef, chicken and pork I consume and that it is currently a major part of if not the focus of my diet.  

There has probably not been a day this year that I have gone without some form of meat.  It is so much a part of me that it is hard to imagine  becoming an all out vegetarian, although I admire my friends who are.For the moment, my morally compromised position is to try and consume less flesh from my furry and feathered friends, and when I do,  try to buy local, organically raised meat.

Consumption:

Honey Nut cheerios and Bran Chex cereal with skim milk
Banana
Breaded chicken
Re-stuffed potatoes
breaded brocoli 
Apple
hummus with pita chips
Gouda cheese
Blue cheese
Sharp cheese
Mushroom quiche
salad
fruit
Glass of red wine
Chips

Exercise:

1 hour of yoga
My Fitness Pal calculated I was 230 calories within my daily goals after factoring in the yoga.

One of the best decisions I have made in a long time was to return to yoga.  At the end of last fall my body was feeling beat up by the preceding tennis season, my shoulder was hurting and I had a groin pull that would not heal.  I have taken a series of yoga classes twice before in my life and enjoyed both, but it had been a couple of years since I had last done it.   Since last October, every Sunday at 12:15 I have been in the back corner of my yoga class.  I am not very elegant and I am sure I have many of the postures wrong, but slowly and surely I am making progress.  My shoulder still has some pain, but it is definitely better.  The groin pull is totally healed.

In many ways yoga is very unnatural for me.  Unlike some people, I was never particularly flexible, not even as a kid could I touch my toes.  As I have grown older, I have gotten even more stiff and inflexible.  It is not as if yoga can totally reverse the process – I may never be able to touch my toes.  But I have found that with concerted, consistent effort, I am slowly becoming more flexible.  In addition to the benefits to my body, at the end of class, I feel centered and my mind is calm.  My mother-in-law has been doing yoga consistently for at least the 25 years I have known her.  She is still very flexible and fit and so with her good example I would like to make it a lifetime activity for myself as well.

I am sure there are those of you who say, yoga is not for dudes.  It is true that today I was the only dude in my class, and most classes there are not more than two or three.   However, a couple of years ago, we went to a Police reunion tour concert.  I could not help but notice that Sting, who I hear is a serious yoga follower, was in remarkable shape and had fantastic energy for his age.  His band mates had not fared so well with time and looked like the old men they are.   So guys if you do not trust me, take tip from Sting-a-ling-ding and get your Namaste.  I will see you next Sunday, but the back corner is mine.

Consumption:

Cheerios and Bran Chex cereal in milk
Banana
Apple
Flank steak and kale in tomato sauce
Bowtie pasta with yogurt and blue cheese sauce
Hummus and crackers
Flatbread crackers and blue cheese
Bowl of cabbage and kielbasa soup
Glass of White wine

Exercise:

1 hour of flow yoga

My Fitness Pal calculated that my calories consumed equaled my target plus the extra 250 I earned with my yoga.