Joseph, Gabriella, Julianna, James, and Elora

Joseph, Gabriella, Julianna, James, and Elora

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Exercise with "Helpers"

I have been dealing with some pretty bad back pain over the last month, and it has left me frustrated and uncertain as to a cause/remedy. It's possible that Julianna has just gotten quite heavy and lifting her is harder and more of a strain; it could also be that I am just that out of shape...:-( I have been to my chiropractor four times in the past two weeks, and he has been able to help re-align my spine and manage my pain, but my back keeps going out. Finally, after going to the chiropractor on Friday and then having my shoulder start wrenching/spasming on Saturday for no apparent reason, I'd had enough. I decided I had to start stretching/exercising again, and determined that first thing Monday I was going to bite the bullet and start doing yoga first thing every morning.

Things started off auspiciously enough. I managed to go to bed on the early side, set my alarm for 7, and awoke after a (rare) decent night's rest. Jules half-woke and decided she was hungry, so after she finished nursing back to sleep it was 7:30, and I was ready to get started. Gabriella came in as I was putting on my exercise clothes and ran off to put on HER "exercise clothes." She returned wearing a pink leotard that's way too small for her, striped red and white tights, a pink tutu, and her beloved red cowboy boots. It was hard to enough to keep my composure at THAT ensemble, but then she proceeded to start her "exercises." She put her legs together, turned out her toes, lifted her arms above her head, and began bending and straightening her knees, saying "cliché....cliché..." each time. I stared at her in utter bewilderment before I finally realized what she was doing: "plié....plié..." Well, I lost it at that - burst into laughter at her sheer cuteness. (She was quite offended. Sorry, Gabs.)


Um, yeah...I SO do not look like this! I think it's more like this:


I finally composed myself enough to find a yoga video that I thought I could handle and started attempting to do the stretches. Attracted by the sounds of the tv, the other kids all came in the room. Joseph immediately started his own version of "exercise," which involved running through the house at his fastest possible speed to prove just how "in shape" he already was. Gabs was still "cliché-ing" and James and Elora, stark naked (they had been in the bath), sat on the couch to watch me do yoga. Well, I was giving it my best shot despite all the distractions when my "audience" decided to chime in. They began critiquing my form:
"No, Mom, the lady on the video has her arms bent more. Bend your arms MORE, Mom!"
"No, Mom, she said to turn your feet parallel to the mat. PARALLEL, Mom! Come on!"
"Focus on your breathing, Mom. The lady SAID to focus on your breathing. FOCUS! How's your breathing, Mom?"

Mom's breathing at this point was practically nonexistent because she was laughing so hard. It is SO easy to relax and breathe and do yoga when naked people are shouting at you from the couch and your son is racing top speed through the entire house and your daughter is "cliché-ing" in cowboy boots and the baby just woke up. I decided at this point that yoga was futile and turned off my video. But I had made it through about 15 minutes and I actually found myself feeling a lot better throughout the day, so I determined to keep up with it. Today was much harder, not because of the distractions, but because I didn't get any sleep, so I was a lot tireder and less desirous of actually doing anything...but I persevered and did it, and once again physically feel better. This is quite encouraging! Hopefully I will not be spending so much time with my chiropractor in the near future!