Day 46: Apparently I Suck at Breathing

I know I always say that I've had a long day but today was particularly long. We had to leave our house at 3am for our son to get a biopsy at a hospital a couple hours away (don't worry, he's doing well and snoozing next to me as I type this) so we're all kind of running on empty at the moment. However, I anticipated this and I decided to plan accordingly by doing 15 minutes of yoga right when I woke up at 2am.

And tired.
I'm very tired.

Last night, I picked a "wake up" yoga routine on YogaGlo to not only help kickstart my early day but to make sure I got my yoga practice done. I wasn't sure how long we'd have to be at the hospital and I didn't want to save yoga for just before bed when I'm exhausted and falling asleep in standing forward bend.

"Zzzzzz . . ."

The routine I chose on YogaGlo was a Hatha practice called "Awaken & Prepare for the Day Ahead" by Claire Missingham. I didn't realize this when I chose it but it's a 10 minute practice that focuses on various breathing techniques. I'd originally wanted something that focused more on poses to help wake up my muscles but since breathing is such a big part of yoga, I figured hey, why not?

Apparently, I really suck at breathing.

I found myself short of breath and lightheaded for most of the practice. I don't know if I have a smaller than average lung capacity or I just don't know how to breathe properly, but this was way harder than I anticipated. I'd like to chalk it up to how tired I was or the fact that the town I live in is at 7,000 feet above sea level but I'm pretty sure I just suck at breathing.

Existing is hard.

At the end of my practice during which I nearly passed out from something as inhaling and exhaling, I wanted to do a little more to get myself up to at least 15 minutes to fit my year of yoga challenge requirements so I added in a couple sun salutations. After my more intensive flow practice last night, I expected to wake up with really sore muscles but was pleasantly surprised to find that I felt fine.

Now, however, is a completely different story.

My whole body is so sore that it takes me entirely too long just to stand up. I've joked before about being geriatric with my hip but at this point, I'd trade just about anything for a wheelchair or a motorized scooter.

I could do donuts in the front yard.

We'll see what happens tomorrow morning but if I still feel like this, I see some restorative poses in my future.

Maybe a few of these, too.
Just line 'em up.