Oak's body/trauma journey (ongoing).

[Mental Fairy]

Hi Oak

Hope you feeling a little better, i feel maybe your stresses and emotions that are being expelled from you currently will be very cathartic.
Lean into buddy. Let the mat have your back.

We are here for you.

[oak]

We are here for you.

Thank you, Mental Fairy. I am awash in anxiety today. I wish trouble would leave me alone for a week or two.

Also, sorry for not noticing your excellent update in your fine mind/body/trauma thread. I'm glad the presentation went well. I'll look forward to more updates with interest.

[Beany Boo]

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/L6eM7lIDRvY

He talks oddly fast but is a good example

https://www.eldoamethod.com/

Also the Google search is good

Muscle and posture-related pain can take up a surprising amount of mental bandwidth that could make the difference if it is easily removed.

[Mental Fairy]

Hi Oak, good ideas Beany Boo. Have done a google search and very interesting indeed.

Oak, just allow it to be and flip the switch on it, do something new or different. Accomplish something like cleaning another area or rearrange things to mix it up a little. Move the brain into a different gear just to give you some relief. If you can or feel then write about what’s going through your mind.

I hope this gives some relief to know your not alone on this journey and how your feeling is a bit of a shampoo before the conditioning!!!!!

[oak]

Friends, an update!

1. Negative stuff: rant regarding pre-pandemic yoga studios condemnation: I don't need you.
2. Positive stuff: thanks to Beany Boo and Mental Fairy.

Negative stuff: pre-pandemic yoga studios condemnation.

I typed out this long rant about being condescended by feckless yoga dudes at bougie yoga studios, pre-pandemic. But here is a condensed version:

Now, with such excellent alternatives as Mental Fairy's recommendations (below), I don't need this any more. Now we have YouTube, MindBody, and heck even DVDs.

So, precious yoga dudes at overpriced in-person studios, I have just one thing to say to you: Deuces.

https://media.giphy.com/media/Ru9sjtZ09XOEg/giphy.gif

[Two concluding thoughts: (1) I've since learned that yoga snobs are not just rude to older dudes like me, but many women. (2) True as all of the above is, for my own good I should probably forgive and move on. Strictly for myself: they can go to hell. Going forward, I'll never pretend it didn't happen, and I won't tolerate it in the future, but I'll leave those fools, who I pity, behind. I have a future to move towards.]

Positive stuff: thanks to Beany Boo and Mental Fairy.

BeanyBoo: thank you. I'll find ways to integrate that into my rotation.

I started that day, set myself a 30 day challenge with yoga with Adriane on YouTube and I haven’t stopped since. It’s been over 8 years of yoga and wow what a difference.

Mental Fairy: I can hardly thank you enough for the excellent recommendation. I'm especially enjoying her brief videos. I am very grateful to you for this recommendation.

[Mental Fairy]

Oak, your worldly spirit lives on this morning. Standing to attention on my yoga mat this morning after my very slow and far from motivational job i felt defeated. Tired, muscles were tight, mind in a sort of vegetable soup mode. I call it this as its almost like i swimming between so many thoughts about so many topics all at the same time.

We both have similar feelings on the yoga snobs. After years of yoga my feet still don't hit the ground when in downward facing dog. I think a recall it only a handful of times and it wasn't for long.
The people out there that push others both physically and mentally to get the positions correct in their beliefs need to be removed. No one body is the same. Not all people can do poses that require decades of practice. We are not all built the same. So forgive yourself if you can not reach the pose, do your best, be you and move on.

The simple fact you have incorporated yoga into your life is beautiful. The time it takes to settle on the mat some days is longer than others. Let the mind fall away and stop planning your next more. Just move with grace, stretch with ease and sigh out the negative. There is so much negativity in this world. Don't allow it on the mat. Make that mat a positive podium for your body.

You rock.

[oak]

Mental Fairy, thank you for your yoga encouragement, and for relating the lovely calzone story! Like many men as they age, I am getting more tender; part of that is being open to “woo”.

Specifically, I find it telling that your husband, your son, and I all had meaningful experiences, on that same day, with that most humble of actions: making food. Though we are separated by half a world, we all felt better after trying diligence with bread and water and vegetables. (I like to think that our ancestors, from a thousand years back, would recognize bread dipped in olive oil.)

Regarding today, and yoga: I was up for hours last night with GERD, and wasn’t myself all day. Plus, I have very rational reasons for considerable anxiety.

But!

Because you took the time and cared enough to make a recommendation, I had a playlist ready for Ms. Adrienne’s brief yoga video. Soon thereafter I showered, shaved, hydrated, and took my prescribed Buspar. I felt better, because I was ready, having set myself up for success, and because we stuck together.

When everything else seems wrong in life, I can focus on the essential things: food, water, friends, and movement. I fully recognize my many rational fears; but for ten minutes I could focus on what I could make right, for now.

[Mental Fairy]

Oak you just moved me to tears.

So proud of you. Your words were like an extended hug of gratitude. You are getting there hun, you really are.

[oak]

Oak you just moved me to tears.

So proud of you. Your words were like an extended hug of gratitude. You are getting there hun, you really are.

Thank you, Mental Fairy!

Well friends, I gave yoga a good try this weekend:

Saturday: (1) I walked to the town square (.8 miles, which was harder than it sounds), and enjoyed myself. I have all sorts of anxiety, grief, and trauma leaving my body during yoga (2) later that same night, I was able to make it through just over a minute of Ms. Adrienne's video. So much anxiety.

Sunday: I made it through the six minute video!

Still, so much grief and (emotional) pain leaving my body. I think my lack of flexibility is both physical and mental.

In the meantime, I am holding on.

[rivergirl]

Don't judge yourself against anyone else's exercise routines or flexibility, Oak. I'm giving you a virtual gold medal for your efforts this weekend.