Yoga

Breath in and bring you hands up and stretch to the back.
Breath out and bend down and hold your ankle.
Stretch your right foot to the back.
Strecth your left foot to the back.
Knee down, chest down, chin down.
Do the cobra.
Do the mountain.
Bring your right foot to the front.
Bring your left foot to the front.
Stand up and stretch your hands up to the back.
Bring your hands to you chest.

That's the weekly routine that Dr D will start us with at the yoga class every friday morning. I had just joined the group about 5 months ago, not long after I moved to this neighbourhood. There's about 11 ladies and 1 man in the class. The warm up session lasts about 15 minutes. The speed will depend on what Dr D instruct us. Sometimes he'll tell us its gonna be slow and will gain speed and will slow down again towards the end. It all depends on what pose he'll give us later on during the 1 and half hour session.

For the first few classes when I first joined, I would have body aches for the whole weekend. Doing the solat could be painful too. Over time it eases, unless Dr D gave us a very hard pose. Last friday, we did the cobra for 1-2 minutes per pose, and I am having pain in my ribs till about yesterday. Ouch...!

It was a fun class, actually. But to get ready to go could be a really trying time. Getting out of your comfort zone to do workouts, doesn't seem to be a great idea. But once you start with the session, you would start to enjoy and glad you made it to the class. Some ladies in the class has been coming to this yoga for more than 4 years now! Wow...even during ramadhan. I still can't imagine how or whether I would turn up during puasa next month.

I decided to take up Yoga as part of my exercise routine due to the fact that physically, yoga is considered to improve:
1. muscle flexibility
2. tendon strength
3. stamina
4. health and internal functioning of the body

The other thing I need to improve on is to try to do yoga at home everyday for 5-30 minutes. Not once..hahaha...have I been disciplined enough to at least practise some of the poses at home. I need to visualize doing it! And do it!