At the start of the New Year, I made a non-verbal resolution to myself that so many others proclaim from the rooftop. I am going to get in shape! So many people look at me and tell me, “You don’t need to exercise!” Let me just say; just because I’m skinny does not mean that I am in good shape. Hear me when I say this: I am not looking to lose weight. I am looking to strengthen, tone, and gain more energy. I’m tired of feeling tired, and tired of feeling weak. I’m no wimp, but I’d love to be able to bench press more than I could now. And I have no idea what that would be, by the way.

I have no gym membership, nor do I intend to get one. It may have it’s benefits, but I prefer walking through my neighborhood than walking on a treadmill. There are days when a treadmill is great, but I prefer the fresh air. I’m still working at getting myself up early so I can take daily morning walks. The cold snap we had prevented me from starting this, and since then, my latest excuse is that my lazy butt can’t seem to get itself out of bed. I enjoy taking long walks, and I miss the days when I returned home from tour and had a couple months of rest. I would awake each morning and go to a park and take a walk for about an hour or more. Unfortunately, I don’t have an hour or more to spare each morning, so I’ll work on trying to get maybe 30 minutes or so.

Even though I haven’t gotten myself into walking again, I haven’t been a total failure. About a year ago, I discovered yoga in Comcast’s On Demand section. There was a section entitled exercisetv. I explored the yoga section and found a couple workouts that I enjoyed. They kicked my butt, but the more I did them, the easier it became. I explored different workouts, and grew to love yoga more. I liked the way I felt when I finished: relaxed, stretched out, and energized. I began to understand what it meant to sink deeper into the poses, and the crazy yoga lingo began to make more sense.

I know there is often the weird touchy feely spiritual your legs are like tree roots rooted into the ground sort of thing with yoga. I do appreciate feeling more connected with my breath, but don’t quite buy into the whole spiritual aspect of it. I do it because it feels good for my body, and it does help me relax and feel more centered.

But, as always happens, I struggled to keep up with it. I would sleep in later, say I was going to do my workout later that day, and of course that time would never come. Some of my favorite workouts disappeared from the On Demand section, and were no longer available for free. And then, we began looking for a house, and then packing up all of our belongings in our small duplex. Before I knew it, there was literally not a space big enough for me to do my downward facing dog.  So, for a month or more, I did no yoga. And my body was sad.

Now, we’re settled into our new place, and although we’re still drowning in boxes, there is still a large, open space in the middle of the living room. So I began my yoga practice anew. I explored a few of the On Demand workouts, but wasn’t too impressed with what I found. Instead, I am now hooked on a yoga website. Yogatic has tons of videos, and also a list of the poses and the many benefits that each provides. Esther Eckhart, the Dutch Irishwoman with the cute accent, walks you through step by step explanations of each workout and pose. And everything on the website is FREE!

So this past week, I have gotten myself up every day and done about 20 minutes of yoga. I start with some warm up stretches, and then some sun salutations. Some of it is difficult, while some of it just feels really good. I’m usually out of breath when I’m done, but I feel energized. That “there’s no way I can move out of this bed” feeling that was there 20 minutes ago is gone. I feel awake, energized and ready to go. Another thing I have noticed is that as I go throughout the day, I feel more awake. There is still that feeling of really wanting a nap some days, but overall, I feel better. So I’m going to try my hardest to keep it up. Something is working.

Now, this morning I didn’t do any yoga with the exception of a little bit of stretching. It is Sunday. I need a day off. Plus my throat hurts a bit. But I will do my best to keep this up.