Streeeeeeeeeeeetch

I have taken yoga classes several times over the last few years, but it has been a while. I recently picked up a new (to me) yoga DVD, cuz I've been feeling a need for the benefits of yoga again, and I thought I might as well break out my mat and strap and do it at home.

This is a the DVD I bought, and it's pretty good. It has a 45 minute workout that features both floor and standing poses, with lots of good breathing exercises mixed in with the stretching. What I really like about this disc, which is hosted by a woman named Suzanne, is that there are 4 women doing the poses for 4 different levels of difficulty. The host lady does the full poses, then the 3 other women consistently do medium or beginning levels of difficulty. It's great, and very easy to follow, even if you (like me) have to jump between regular poses for some things and medium for others. For example, my hamstrings are very flexible, so I can do full poses of all the forward bends and a lot of the standing poses, but my hips and torso aren't so great, so I do modified poses of the floor exercises. I think that feature is the best thing about this DVD.

I just did the whole workout for the first time, and wow were some of my muscles not so happy about working in such a focused way. My quads and my actual feet muscles aren't very pleased with me right now. But overall, it feels good. There's nothing quite like the feeling of those deep back cracks during a good forward bend.

What's the hardest thing about doing yoga at home versus in a class? Well, it's hard to explain to trusty cat Cleo that just because I'm sitting or laying on the floor doesn't make it playtime!