Three-legged dog

A few months ago I incorporated Yoga classes into my workouts. I thought it would be a nice gentle guided way to stretch and become more flexible, and it is. It’s also an excellent way to build up strength and improve your balance.

At first I was tentative, making sure I arrived at class early enough to chose a spot close to a wall, just incase…. and very carefully positioning and moving my limbs into the various poses. I was often a motion behind the rest of the class, as they shifted into plank I still had my leg up for three-legged dog.

If you’ve never done yoga, picture this: your hands and feet are firmly rooted on the floor and your butt is in the air, this is down-ward facing dog. When done correctly your hip angle is between 70 and 75 degrees. Then you slowly lift one leg up, keeping it straight and tightening the abs, quads and glutes. Lower the leg and repeat with the other side. Eventually you’ll be strong enough to angle the raised leg, bending it 90 degrees, opening your hip to the side.

And one day your instructor will say “okay now flip that leg over and shift your arm to the other side” and all of a sudden you are facing the ceiling with both feet and both hands on the floor holding you up! And you feel like a masterpiece of yoga-ness. Until you have to get back into plank.

For me, the primary beauty of yoga is that it requires my full focus and concentration, I have to be completely in the moment. No ruminating about past events, no making lists of things to do, no wondering how much time is left.

Just movement, and breath.

Zoey was not a three-legged dog but I like the way her head is angled in this photo.

(I procrastinated all last week and never actually posted this…. oops)