Adho Mukha Svanasana

I get that there's nothing more annoying than someone talking about yoga, trust me, I GET IT, but since this is my blog, and very few people ever come here, I'm going to talk about it anyway.

Yoga is kind of a big part of my life now, which is good, because exercise, in any form, has never been a big part of my life. Since I started doing yoga regularly about a year ago, I've lost a significant amount of weight, even though I didn't take up yoga for this reason (it probably should have been my reason...). I don't know exactly how much weight I have lost, because I didn't start weighing myself until I started doing yoga, but the difference between what I know to have been my heaviest weight and my weight now is substantial.

My diet hasn't changed at all. I still eat out a lot, eat junk, sometimes eat healthy, can't eat a lot in one sitting, love all things sweet, have to have dessert with every meal, always eat breakfast, eat processed and unprocessed foods. Because my diet hasn't changed, I've attributed my weight loss to either yoga or, I'm dying. When my doctor noticed that my weight had changed he asked if I knew why, and I told him that the only thing that had changed was that I started doing yoga. He said, "You can't lose weight from doing yoga" and I said, "Ok" and then he moved on. Obviously he wasn't too concerned, and obviously I am not a doctor, but I do think he's wrong. I think that if I'm doing something that's active (my heart rate always increases), and I'm doing it regularly (at least 4 times a week now and over the summer, every day), then why can't I lose weight from it? Before I did yoga, I didn't really move at all. I did nothing. So, doing something has got to be different, right?

Well, I feel better, and that's good. I also feel like I have a hobby now, and that's nice. So, I'm going to continue to do yoga (I do it at the gym, a studio and at home), maybe stop weighing myself (because, what's the point?), and keep trying to convince myself that I'm not dying. My main goal, and it was one of my resolutions this year, is to get better at yoga, and I'm excited, because I think I am. Below is a picture of me doing downward-facing dog. Notice that I can't get my heels to the ground (my hamstrings are still very tight), but my shoulders are so much more open than they've ever been. I still have a long, long way to go, but staying in downward-facing dog for an extended period of time used to be a nightmare, and now, I can relax in it like I'm supposed to.