Welcome to November!

Hard to believe that we are in November but it is a lovely time to be thankful. Last year, I posted my special thanks through the month of November and am considering it again. Of course, I'd need to get going! Posting every day can be fun or impossible-just ask blogger friends. Some days are short on time, others are just devoid of coherent words and yet other days are fountains of stories. Feel free to provide comments if you support a daily post of thanks from me and if you would read....encouragement is always a good thing.

And speaking of encouragement, I have been a beginner yoga student for eons-first doing some yoga with my good friend, Hilary and a few actual classes here and there. Hilary has since moved to greener pastures over in Austin, TX, but I still look to her for yoga guidance and encouragement.

After some time off from yoga, I decided to try the class at my son's karate studio. Billie has challenged the class with some really tricky poses and it is keeping my interest renewed each week.

A few weeks ago, I asked her about doing headstands and shoulder stands, which I haven't done since I was a child. Even then, I wasn't really great at them! She was enthusiastic to teach it to me (actually, she taught it during a class that I missed) and I did my first yoga headstand in probably thirty years.

Did I worry about my old juga body getting into the pose? Sure. But I was determined to try. I had a spotter for the first round and when I saw myself in the mirror doing the pose that I only read about in magazines-it was empowering. On the second try, she wanted me to kick up into the pose. That proved to be more challenging than the actual holding of the pose. Apparently, I needed to work up those core muscles hiding under the baby juga.

So, this morning, after a busy couple of weeks, I decided to unroll the mat and salute the sun. The boys were up and about, occasionally crawling under my down dog or requesting juice or snacks mid-pose. No big deal. Towards the end of my practice, I decided to do some poses against the wall. This is when Tom appeared. I was feeling pretty strong, so I decided I would try the headstand on my own, completely unsure if I could kick up on my own. After really working to get my head, neck and arms right, I found kicking up to be EASY!




For a moment, I felt pure exhilaration. Tom got his camera and by then, I was ready to hop down (my feet are all cockeyed!) but it was soooooo great. I feel energized and happy as a result. Of course, during meditation, I was totally consumed with an "I did it!" feeling, so it was harder to settle down.

Anyway, I am by no means in great shape and looking back at some old photos of me ten years ago-I see the changes. And I know that time isn't always on my side as far as exercise goes. But I am making time for yoga, both in class and at home. Probably need to sandwich the cardio in there somewhere, but this is about all I have enough time for right now.

The boys enjoy creating their own yoga poses too, which is another post for another day!

I am thankful that this old mommy has still got a few moves left!