Goal for the Week: Stretching

In an effort to re-introduce some structure to my daily routine, I've decided to take some good advice...and start stretching daily, and nightly. I've made room in the living room for my yoga mat and a chair to do my chair yoga routine, which I pretty much know by memory from watching the Healing Yoga for Aches and Pains DVD so many times.

I've noticed I usually feel so much better at night...It's like it takes my body the entire day to warm up, lose the stiffness, and get going. I feel more productive, more flexible. So I got to wondering if there were any logical reasons for this. Did it just take me all day to warm up? Was it the muscle relaxer I take at night?
Well, I hate that I've even been taking that muscle relaxer every night (though that's how it's prescribed, I just would rather not) and I'm so groggy in the mornings, that doesn't seem to make taking it in the morning a good idea.

So I got to thinking about the idea of getting my body going faster. A good friend of mine goes for a morning walk. While "real" exercise like that, for me, in the morning is out of the question, I do remember when I was in a lot of pain this past summer, and having really tough mornings, even though just the light movement and breathing exercises at the beginning of the video made me want to crumple into a heap on the floor, once I got going it felt great, and I was feeling a lot better, getting through the day much more easily, in a better mood, and more motivated.

So if I can get back in that routine...

Then, I was also reading another blogger who mentioned she stretches at night, and I got to thinking, that that although I feel better in a sense, and more productive at night, it's when I have the most pain. Lately it's been driving me crazy. Tension, cramps, spasms, you name it. Lots of time on the massage chair. And the Thermophore. (Which incidentally, just pooped out on me!)Maybe stretching or Yoga is just what I need to help me relax...The big goal being, to get back on a more normal schedule. Lately, I'm lucky if I'm asleep by 3am, and frankly, I'm sick of it. Especially with the days getting shorter, I want to be up and at 'em, as early as possible. And that's still usually later than most people, even at my best, so...

Wish me luck on my new routine additions. Hell, on the idea of a routine, period!