I knew I'd have hard decisions to make as a mother: breast or bottle, organic cotton nappies or disposable, constant ravaging guilt or just occasional intense bouts of it.... no, seriously, most of these were pretty easy. But what has been hard is this decision:
It's late.
I'm tired.
But I also lugged around a toddler today and my back hurts.
If I go to bed now, I'll get much-needed sleep.
But then my back might be worse tomorrow.
Yoga/stretching or sleep?
Usually I choose sleep, it's just the most basic necessity, possibly even a little more important than air. But yesterday I chose yoga, and man was I glad I did. What I found was a one-hour program for the back and hamstrings that I thought would be just the thing for my tense lower back:
So, the first thing I loved about this is that it's all sitting. I wanted something relaxing, and I was too tired to get up. I really just wanted to sit and stretch. The other thing is that other calming yoga programs I do often have pretty expected and easy asanas, so I tend to think that I could have just done the practice on my own. This program had a number of positions I'm not so familiar with, and with some measure of challenge. It gave me really deep, delicious stretches, exactly where I needed it to stop the pain in its tracks. Twists, forward bends, more twists, all done slowly and gently and with breath.
The other thing I really liked? David Procyshyn gives an instruction a few moments before doing it on screen, not at the same time. So you have time to process what he says, prepare to do it, and then do it along with him. It took me a bit to figure this out, but once I did I loved it -- I wish all yoga instructors would do this. I never had the feeling I had to catch up to what was going on on screen.
Anyway, it's free, go do it if you have back pain like me -- it's just an hour of your life. I for one loved it so much I will be checking out David's other online videos.