I've been practicing yoga on and off now for about 7 years. And when I say 'on and off' I basically mean once a week at a gym during those times when I HAD a gym membership and as well as the occasional at home attempt which usually led to me asleep on the floor (according to D).
And so, when I discovered there was yoga at D's school and that it was FIVE CANADIAN DOLLARS a class, I decided it was well worth my time and money to sign up.
The best part was that rate also included a drop in rate. So, literally I would buy up a bunch of tokens to use at my leisure and not feel tied into going every week at a certain time. Because guess what? They're even MORE flexible - the classes are on 3 different days during the week, at different times. And lets face it, it's a FIVE MINUTE walk from my house.
I expected to stretch my muscles out a bit, help build some strength for my half marathon (support me here!!) and just generally have an excuse to get out of the house.
What I didn't expect was the healing of a very tiny body part that has been ailing me for over 3 years now.
Some of you may remember that I broke my foot while living in Korea. If you don't remember, it's probably because it wasn't even a cool story, although I should have just made something up but there were too many English speaking witnesses to blow that out of the water.
And since that break, I would say my foot was mediocre at best. Certainly over the course of 3 years it managed to heal somewhat - I DID run a half marathon on it so obviously it wasn't THAT out of sorts. But there was always something just not right. Just not exactly .. well .. healed.
Whenever I would exercise, it would always just ache a little bit afterwards, especially if I hadn't exercised in awhile. It was almost like the muscles would forget how to work.
And it wasn't just my foot that was suffering. During the peak of my training, I was icing my knee every day. And just the ONE knee, the one that clearly was somehow compensating for that niggling little metatarsal that just didn't want to fully get back to normal.
So, I knew something with my foot had to be fixed. And I went to reflexology, massage therapists even just asked my doctor what the heck to do. Nothing seemed to really work.
Until one day in yoga. The teacher - who is amazingly focused and meticulously observant - looked down at my right foot as we were preparing our mountain pose and asked me to adjust it, ever so slightly INWARDS.
It was literally a quarter of an inch. A shift so tiny, I would not have seen it. And in an instant my mind was blown. Suddenly, my foot felt hot and tingly, like there were 100 different parts that had not been used in ..well..over 3 years.
I just stared out for the rest of class in amazement at the sensation in my right foot. It was like a good morning stretch, an awakening of an asleep limb even the ache of a tired muscle. But I could at least FEEL it. And for the first time in over 3 years, I really felt the achy foot was finally going to be a thing of the past.
I excitedly told the yoga teacher that she, in an instant, had literally changed my life. And, as she backed away slowly, she cautioned me to 'be patient with that muscle'. Be patient with myself.
And so, over the course of about 3 weeks, I have seen a dramatic change. I started just standing on my right foot, engaging all those muscles that had been discovered again. I could feel it getting stronger, just the way you do with weight training a particular muscle. I just knew THIS was going to finally be the change that would make the difference.
I can now run without icing my knee. I can now wiggle my toes and feel the same flexibility as I do in my left foot. I can walk over the course of a full day and not feel the tired ache and pain in what D had begun to refer to as my 'old lady foot'.
I am a new person with this foot.
And I learned, once again, it's never to late to change the situation, to make it different, to find a way to just ever so slightly shift perspective.
And so, when I discovered there was yoga at D's school and that it was FIVE CANADIAN DOLLARS a class, I decided it was well worth my time and money to sign up.
The best part was that rate also included a drop in rate. So, literally I would buy up a bunch of tokens to use at my leisure and not feel tied into going every week at a certain time. Because guess what? They're even MORE flexible - the classes are on 3 different days during the week, at different times. And lets face it, it's a FIVE MINUTE walk from my house.
I expected to stretch my muscles out a bit, help build some strength for my half marathon (support me here!!) and just generally have an excuse to get out of the house.
What I didn't expect was the healing of a very tiny body part that has been ailing me for over 3 years now.
Some of you may remember that I broke my foot while living in Korea. If you don't remember, it's probably because it wasn't even a cool story, although I should have just made something up but there were too many English speaking witnesses to blow that out of the water.
And since that break, I would say my foot was mediocre at best. Certainly over the course of 3 years it managed to heal somewhat - I DID run a half marathon on it so obviously it wasn't THAT out of sorts. But there was always something just not right. Just not exactly .. well .. healed.
Whenever I would exercise, it would always just ache a little bit afterwards, especially if I hadn't exercised in awhile. It was almost like the muscles would forget how to work.
And it wasn't just my foot that was suffering. During the peak of my training, I was icing my knee every day. And just the ONE knee, the one that clearly was somehow compensating for that niggling little metatarsal that just didn't want to fully get back to normal.
So, I knew something with my foot had to be fixed. And I went to reflexology, massage therapists even just asked my doctor what the heck to do. Nothing seemed to really work.
Until one day in yoga. The teacher - who is amazingly focused and meticulously observant - looked down at my right foot as we were preparing our mountain pose and asked me to adjust it, ever so slightly INWARDS.
It was literally a quarter of an inch. A shift so tiny, I would not have seen it. And in an instant my mind was blown. Suddenly, my foot felt hot and tingly, like there were 100 different parts that had not been used in ..well..over 3 years.
I just stared out for the rest of class in amazement at the sensation in my right foot. It was like a good morning stretch, an awakening of an asleep limb even the ache of a tired muscle. But I could at least FEEL it. And for the first time in over 3 years, I really felt the achy foot was finally going to be a thing of the past.
I excitedly told the yoga teacher that she, in an instant, had literally changed my life. And, as she backed away slowly, she cautioned me to 'be patient with that muscle'. Be patient with myself.
And so, over the course of about 3 weeks, I have seen a dramatic change. I started just standing on my right foot, engaging all those muscles that had been discovered again. I could feel it getting stronger, just the way you do with weight training a particular muscle. I just knew THIS was going to finally be the change that would make the difference.
I can now run without icing my knee. I can now wiggle my toes and feel the same flexibility as I do in my left foot. I can walk over the course of a full day and not feel the tired ache and pain in what D had begun to refer to as my 'old lady foot'.
I am a new person with this foot.
And I learned, once again, it's never to late to change the situation, to make it different, to find a way to just ever so slightly shift perspective.
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