MeSoFun Blog

That was me, lying on the yoga mat, not moving this morning. I was fine. Had control of my breath, wasn't injured, everything was tip-top. Except that space between my ears. "This is ridiculous," I thought. "But you're staying right here on this mat and not leaving." That was my punishment, spending 45 minutes on the mat, staring at the ceiling for the last half of a power yoga class. As consolation, the person next to me alternated between lying on her back and curling into the fetal position. And she's an instructor. Seriously. But this isn't about the workout. A 90-plus-degree room and a frenetic pace (by yoga standards) were bad, but it was the space between the ears that was and remains the problem. I don't like exercising, especially not around other people. Also, I don't like not having a career to work for. So, when T-Dubs isn't around, I don't have a career and my exercise routine is suffering, I get a little bit cranky. What...

I'm sure this only *looks* painful. But it looks it a lot. I like being sore. It's a reminder that I've actually done something. In that context, the occasional shouts today from my back, arms and legs are a good thing. For two months, I haven't been able to do anything. That changed yesterday. Three weeks ago, my doctor removed a bone growth on my femur. He told me not to run for six weeks and to be careful about my exercise. Yesterday, I left the house and played 9 holes of golf. It was my first golf "action" in two years. I walked nine holes at the local course and had a legitimate birdie. I'm a firm believer that nobody cares about your golf game as much as you do, unless you're Tiger Woods. So I'll end the story there. I came home, walked the dog for half an hour, then went to bikram yoga. If you've never done yoga, the following description is going to sound like hell. The room where you practice yoga is heated to between 105 and 110 degr...

A slightly better Downward Dog than I managed. Ow. OK, that's really only a little ow, lower-case letters and all. Yesterday, The Great Yoga Experiment began with a trip to what was billed as restorative yoga, which aims to help people recovering from injuries or surgeries. It was not restorative yoga. That position up there may look kinda easy, but it requires some fairly serious physical effort. That was the surprise at the start of TGYE: Yoga is physically demanding, but not just in a stretchy way. It requires more power, more anerobic energy, than I thought. I have a bad memory. My first yoga experience seven years ago was something of a stunt. As part of a series called Jim & Jim at the Gym, I worked out with a photographer friend to prepare for ski and snowboard season in Utah. We ran hills, we hiked dogs and we did Bikram yoga. Bikram yoga is done in a room heated to between 105 and 110 degrees. The theory is that the warm temperatures help loosen our joints and make us ...