Yoga

Well, I've gone and done it. I turned into one of those New Age hippie freaks that recommends yoga for all ailments of the body.

It happened by accident, I assure you.

I started taking yoga classes about a year and half ago. They are free at work and are timed perfectly with the end of my working day. At the time, I had a case of plantar fascitiis that wouldn't go away, and the doctor recommended daily stretches to lessen the pain. Yoga is stretching, right, so what did I have to lose.

I lost my skepticism. Seriously, yoga works. It works so well that I'm recommending it to random strangers. I hear the words coming out of my mouth and see their looks of "yeah right you New Age hippie" and I think to myself, how did I get here?

I got pregnant, that's how. As I got bigger and bigger, I kept going to yoga class.When I got weight-related shin splints in the second semester, yoga took the pain away. Early in the third trimester, it eased the tension in my calves, preventing painful leg cramps (bananas helped too). Now it's late in my pregnancy and I have loads more pain - a sciatic nerve in my tailbone, pain in my lower back, legs that don't feel strong enough to carry me, and a 6lb baby that has settled into my pelvis making general movements uncomfortable.

Yoga helps all that. A few sessions of yoga and the sciatic nerve stopped screaming. My lower back gets stretched in pleasant, pain-relieving ways. My legs still feel weak, but just knowing that I can hold warrior poses is encouraging. Yoga even helps shift the baby weight around some, giving temporary relief.

So when a random pregnant woman came shuffling down the hall barely putting one foot in front of the other, she asked me if I ever had sciatic pain. I said, "Yes! Just last week and I was moving like you. Then I did a couple 30 minute sessions of yoga and felt a lot better. I kept it up throughout the week and now the pain is gone."

She gave me the crazy person look and shuffled away.

I guess I have become a yoga-loving New Age hippy. Well, whatever. All I know is that it works. Now I have my own mat, carrying bag, DVD, and yoga block. As long as I don't show up on a beach somewhere doing yoga to welcome the sunrise.