Yoga at Sunrise

Last night before I went to bed, I knew that I had to shake up my routine. I wasn't sure exactly how, but something different needed to happen. It may not seem like I have a tedious routine; I'm the first to admit that I'm on the go a lot. Lately I have been wondering if I take so many short vacations just to get away from my house and the reminders there of what I have to do. Of course, that's why most people take vacations, I guess, but I've been on the road almost as much as I've been home over the last few months. I love to see new places. I love my house too. Over the past year, though, my house has not been the sanctuary I'd like it to be. The kitchen and the floors throughout look great, but I have boxes I packed up last summer -- still packed and taking up most of the room that will be my office. At first I was working a lot, then I was traveling, then I was tired. Now I don't want to deal with it, but I need some o the stuff in there and no one else is going to unpack the boxes and put things away.

My usual morning routine is to make coffee, pour a cup, grab my laptop, check my various inboxes, reply if necessary, and stroll through Facebook. My change wasn't drastic. I had to work from 8:30-5:00, so I couldn't do a whole lot before then. I started the coffee around 6:00 and had half a cup -- I rarely wait for the machine to finish brewing before I pour at least a little -- and decided I'd spend a half hour doing yoga before I got on with things. It was great! I didn't do anything too strenuous, just some gentle stretches and "chakra-opening" poses. I went straight from that to the shower and then stood on my porch for a few minutes. I'd like to say I was soaking up the sunshine, but the sun wasn't out and the humidity was awful. It wasn't especially pleasant, but I was happy that by 7:30 in the morning I had done more than I did all day for the past few days.

Nearly twelve hours later, I'm a little achy -- I haven't done yoga in a while -- but I notice that I'm standing up straighter and feeling more confident. I had hoped to get in a walk this evening and I still might. It's raining at the moment. After feeling blah for the last few days, I'm relieved that a small tweak helped so much. My goal for this week is to get in at least thirty minutes of quality movement, in addition to whatever incidental walking I do. Ideally I'll do it first thing in the morning. In the meantime, I'm going to do my best to be nice to myself. It's not always as easy as it sounds.