About 10 months ago, my youngest came home from her first year of acting school ready to continue the growth and experience from the instructors.  Try new things, they said.  Stay limber, they urged.  Get a job, her parents intoned.  So she did all three.  She signed up with a temporary agency in the Napa Valley and was hired at a wage higher than many and definitely more than what her previous position at Krispy Kreme had paid.  She opened herself up to new experiences such as driving between St. Helena and Sacramento using the back roads all by herself and climbing Mt. St. Helena at midnight with a friend.  And the first thing she did after coming home was to find all of the yoga salons that offered affordable rates … such as free for a week or $30 for the first month.  That’s where I come into the picture.  For some time I had been thinking I needed to plug into some type of exercise to stretch my muscles.  I do aerobics four to five times a week, but I could feel a tightness developing in my legs and hips, and realized it was time to do something about that.  Being the supportive Mom, I volunteered to accompany her at the yoga sessions – as long as she promised not to laugh or make fun of me.  Good thing I got that promise too … because after the first day it was clear that Caitlin (the daughter) was quite adept in this yoga thing … moving flawlessly into the postures throughout the hour.  I, on the other hand, struggled to sit quietly even in the most basic position.  But I could tell an immediate difference even after the first class. My legs were looser and the pain in my hips had diminished.  My daughter is on to something, I thought and I decided to stay with the practice for at least through the summer.  The $30 for the first month deal made that an easy decision.  So even after she returned to school in early August, I continued attending the yoga classes … trying out different ones … from candlelight to yoga flow.  As I continued to both run/walk and practice yoga my stomach tightened, my clothes fit better, and I felt better.  Then September came, the prices rose, and I stopped going.  Big mistake.  I will say that the positive effects on my body stayed with me for a quite a few weeks.  Longer than what I would have expected.  But by December of last year, the pain had returned and I could feel that my body was aching for a good stretch.  To my credit I kept checking various yoga salons for pricing … but it’s not cheap, folks.  My gym membership did include some yoga – mostly stretching, and mostly half hour classes, but I went anyway.  It was better than doing nothing at all.  Finally I discovered a discount membership price for students and seniors (you can guess which category I qualified for).  It just happened to be at a wonderful hot yoga salon practically across the street from where I live. The one that offered the free week last summer.  A month ago I finally took the plunge and signed up.  The salon offers a variety of yoga – from the very vigorous to gentle yoga and my favorite, candlelight.  It has taken my body much longer to bounce back than it did last summer.  I’ve tried a yoga flow class, and that about wiped me out … and I was the youngest in the class! So for now I’m engaging in the yin yoga.  The teachers are supportive and encouraging … and there are apparently myriad types of stretch poses … because even the same teachers introduce different postures from one class to another.  I’m the type of personality that wants to push ahead … to meet the challenge.  And while you are encouraged to move into deeper stretches, the instructors also caution you to not to push into pain.  I can tell it’s going to take a while to get my body back into shape … but it’s getting there.  But I won’t be posting any pictures of myself anytime soon – instead I offer you this:

NAMASTE!