flexible as a carrot stick

i am about as flexible as a carrot stick.  i can't even touch my toes.  but i love doing a yoga video i have for a few key reasons:

1. knees.  years ago, i took a yoga class as an elective for my bs.  this was a once a week class, and i noticed, doing yoga just once a week, helped my knees feel better while running.  for the first time in my life, i could run farther than 3 miles without knee pain!  after that semester i found a yoga video the most similar to that class i took (i cycled through A LOT of videos until i found the right one), and i faithfully do it at least once a week.  this has been for the last 5-6 years (and i haven't gained an inch of flexibility!).  i notice the knee pain will start up again between week 2-3 while running if i skip it!  i know it so well, i could probably do the routine without the video, but i love the music:.) 

2. back.  when i was pregnant with maxwell, i got a herniated disc on the left side between L-4 and L-5, i think.  i never had an MRI done, so i don't know for sure, but judging on the location of pain, i'm pretty sure it was L-4 and L-5.  i think i actually hurt my back leaning over backwards to reach something while holding pace, but then pregnancy (those 50+ extra pounds...) definitely exacerbated it.  i was in excruciating pain 24/7 for about 7 months of the pregnancy and then 18 months after max was born.  there were days i couldn't breathe because of the pain.  days my left big toe went numb for hours at a time because of the nerve being pinched.  i couldn't stand up straight without pain searing down my back and sciatic nerve down my left leg.  standing too long was painful, sitting too long was painful (which made church *really* enjoyable).  i felt like i would never be active again, never be pain-free again, never enjoy life again.  one week after i had max, i started seeing John G. Aznar, a chiropractor and my lifesaver.  although it took about eighteen months of seeing him regularly, i finally got to the point where i felt like life was livable again.  there were obvious structural issues that he helped realign, but also during that time, i really tried to be proactive--i kept exercising (yoga being part of it), scoured my anatomy books and discovered the muscle group that had tightened up and was causing a lot of the pain--and so i started rolling out my trouble spots on a foam roller, and i found stretches that targeted my trouble spots.  all in all, i spent two years in absolute pain.  i am always going to have a herniated disc, it isn't like it just slips back into place and everything is fixed (i was really disappointed when dr. aznar told me that!)--but there are ways to manage it.  yoga helps keep things stretched out.  ironically, there is no pain when i run--i feel great!--but it is crucial i stretch out and roll out after each run.  i still can't stand too long or sit too long.  if i have a super busy day where i am running errands and on my feet all day long, i pay for it for 2-3 days afterward.  i still have some painful days where i have to remind myself to breathe, remind myself to just keep moving, roll, stretch, and do yoga.

3. breathe.  even though i still can't touch my toes, and some of my yoga moves look funky because i just simply can't do them with completely straight legs, i do the best i can--and i am breathing the whole time.  deep breathing is an amazing stress reliever.  i always feel more balanced afterward, more relieved, more centered.  even if i've had the boys crawling over/under/around me the whole video...when i exercise, i feel better, more sane, in control, and happy, and my body craves healthful foods and a healthful lifestyle, and when i eat right i crave exercise, and when i exercise i crave whole foods; when i don't exercise, i definitely have a short(er) temper, feel blue, and want to eat good ol' pepperoni pizza and 5 guys cheeseburgers and fries, and when i eat junk i crave just sitting on the couch and vegging...and doesn't a pizza or burger and fries go great with vegging out on the couch?!...i definitely want to be the one in control of which cycle i end up in...so breathing it is.