The Middle Aged Dad

My God I ache.  I tried yoga yesterday for the first time.  I’m mid-forties and run a bit (sort of shuffle about really) and thought I’d give it a go.  Why? Well, partly out of curiosity and partly to help my body whilst operating deep behind the enemy lines of middle age.

Yoga I knew was going to be challenge.  Look, I struggle to sit cross legged but I was up for giving it a go.  The trouble is I spent nearly 20 years in the army where a warm up and cool down meant a quick toe-touch and a cup of tea.  I think life of hard training and wanton neglect has taken its toll and my joints don’t take much punishment before they start to object loudly – I now get cramp in the middle of the night and that isn’t fair.

Sensibly, I had a good scout around youtube to find a course that looked about right. I happened upon Yoga with Adriene.  Let me say now that she is good.  She clearly knows her stuff.  She doesn’t patronise.  She talks like a normal person and didn’t put me off.  In short, she’s a pro and quite easy on the eye.  I gave it a go.

So, there I was yesterday afternoon pressing play on a 20 minute beginner session yesterday afternoon thinking “how hard can this be?”  Well let me tell you, it was a total bastard.  It looked so easy and do you know, some of it was….at the time.  But my shoulders this morning were laugh-out-loud sore.  I couldn’t pick up my toddler without making a silly, old-man sound. Washing my hair was odd, it felt like I was using someone else’s arms.  Yoga did this to me.  Yes that’s right, yoga.