I started reading two different books on yoga today, neither of which can be located on my list to complete over the months I have off from school, but oh well. I really want to learn yoga and I think that it will be beneficial along with all of the other lifestyle changes I've made in recent weeks. I also intend to share whatever I learn with Andrew. I think he'll like it because he's one of those people that stretch with a degree of regularity.
The first book is called Om Yoga, by author and illustrator Cyndi Lee. I selected this particular book because it nicely laid out a routine for each day of the week. Added bonuses were the book's ability to lay flat and the handy tabs that divide each section. I took the book with me to the park earlier this afternoon to give it a shot. I found the illustrations were relatively easy to follow. I had a lot of fun learning the daily warm-up, which is a short sequence of movements called a vinyasa or a flow series. I followed that up with the work out provided for Thursday and found those postures to be slightly more advanced. It is going to take some time and steady practice for me to get the boat pose, the half-boat pose, the straddle stretch, and the side-bend straddle stretch all down pat. As it is right now, I'm not very flexible. I can't even touch my toes and I have never been able to do so, despite different P.E. teachers' very best attempts. I still feel refreshed long after my workout and I believe I can manage this sort of activity every day.
The second book I began reading today is titled The Yoga Minibook for Weight Loss, by Elaine Gavalas. I have only read three chapters of it so far. These include the first two, "Understanding Yoga" and "Before You Begin" and the last one, "Yoga Food." I haven't learned anything incredibly useful so far. The diet they highly recommend is a vegetarian one. At the very least they insist that you cut down your intake of all red meats to only a few portions a month. The reason this is such a concern for them is the presence of saturated fats in red meats (they exist in other foods as well, like in dairy for example). These can be minimized by simply choosing lean cuts of meat and trimming off excess visible fat. That's what Andrew and I do and we partake of no dairy whatsoever.
Just so you know I haven't abandoned Gaimon's Neverwhere. I'm about half way through it. I'll probably start on Good Omens, which he co-authored with Terry Pratchett, after that. At least those books are on my list. I have a month left to finish up eighteen more if I still want to achieve my goal of twenty-five. Of course when I was planning my summer reading I wasn't anticipating on being kept so busy...
-- CrystalShiloh @ 08:36 PM