The 30 Day Yoga Challenge

The Yoga studio I attend is having a 30 day Yoga Challenge. Participants have to complete at least one class per day for thirty days. I decided to give it a try. By participating I hope to gain:

Increased flexibility. The flexibility in my legs is very poor. Growing up, my sports were soccer and running. Runners are not known for having good flexibility. Since those days, I also have a sore back and a bad knee. In fact, my hamstrings are so tight that if a stand up for moderate periods of time, they were start to ache and I will have to sit down. I am not ready to give in to aches and pain like some 80 year old man.

More centered/Improved mood. I have not been happy with my mood for the past year, and I am sure the Wife has not either. I have been short with her and the kids lately. This last year I have felt useless. I spend my day ferrying people around or cleaning up something that is immediately undone. I don't know what it is like to be a woman and how women can survive as a homemaker, but a man needs something visible that he can look and and say, "Look what I have done". I haven't had anything like that for the past year.

I have always been interested in Eastern philosophy. I subscribe to the idea of "mind over matter". I have seen or experienced times when I have felt "one with the universe" (or closer to that state) and I believe that meditation can help to keep a person more centered. I hope that this challenge will improve my mood and  make me better able to deal with K.

Increased core strength. Why not throw it in. From what I can see, improving core strength in yoga means situps. I hate situps (doesn't everyone?). But I could use some (ok, a lot) of improvement in that area. Not really a key thing, more of a nice bonus. If I can build a nice six-pack, maybe the Wife will find me attractive again.

Since I started Yoga a few months ago, I have been seeing some benefits. However, they don't seem to carry on long enough to make a huge difference. My mood is good for only a few hours after a class and my flexibility seems to back to normal by the next class. I have being doing Yoga 1-2 times a week for the last few months. I want to know if I can improve beyond that and build on that improvement. Will doing Yoga every day achieve that goal?

I will blog about my progress at different times throughout the month.