Fight Or Flight, Or Something Better

Well, here I am, listening to "Safe as Milk" in memory of Captain Beefheart, waiting for my leftover pizza to warm up. We (me, Anne & Emmi) hit Kula Yoga in Nazareth last night, to take a class taught by our friend Scott. Really cool, and I think we all found it fairly strenuous -- I'm not sure what Emmi's situation is, but Anne and I are somewhat experienced yoga practitioners who have, er, not practiced in a while... (We went for pizza with Scott afterward.)

I think that may be part of my latest problems, by the way - not the pizza, the lack of yoga. The body has like two basic modes, one calm and one based on "fight or flight," and yoga is at least partly an attempt to get body & mind into the calm mode. My recent health issues -- one recent cold does not a trend or tendency make, but still there's that breathing thing, and the skin thing, and my blood pressure was up at the doctor's office though it might have been the decongestants... -- seem to fall in the "caused by stress" category, and have trended upward as my yoga practice has waned.

I know my personality suffers if I skip too much yoga (like now), and here's a sign that maybe my health is suffering too. Better find a way again, and make time for yoga.

Meantime, I tried a towpath ride yesterday. I've been so sick lately that I haven't missed being outside, and had no desire to do anything strenuous, so I took it as a good sign that I at least wanted to go riding yesterday. When I got out there though, my fur-lined lungs had other ideas and I only rode for about 20 minutes. Anne should be home soon, and we'll try another ride in a bit. The way it usually works, by the time I can really ride again I should be jonesing for activity.