Why Yoga Part 2 of 4: Clarity of Vision
July 8, 2009 by dr. lam
In the past, I was the consummate weekend warrior. I would workout with incredible intensity on Saturday and Sunday and perform either no or very minimal working out throughout the rest of the week. A huge problem for me was lacking the desire and discipline to wake up early in the morning like 5 am to workout. Just did not want to do this, and I know my own limitations for desiring to implement something consistently into my life. At night, I was always exhausted and lifting weights and doing intense cardio did not appeal to me. The real death knell for this was anytime that I did intense cardio at night I would be left with the sensation of complete fatigue at night when I got home but then an inability to fall asleep thereafter.
Yoga has changed all of that. It is the perfect evening workout. It is so intense during the exercise that no matter how tired I am or distracted, I am totally present and cannot focus on anything else but the asana, or pose. I am consumed with being present. That also allows me to let go of my daily ruminations that plague me at night. Allowing yourself 1 to 1.5 hours of not thinking about anything before or after is truly practicing the Power of Now we discussed months ago, and I encourage my new readers of this blog to go back to search my blogs on the Power of Now or to purchase Eckhart Tolle’s wonderful book. Beyond that, it also allows me to get home and feel this intense alertness. The feeling I get after yoga is unrivaled. I am completely awake and intensely present. HOWEVER, when it comes time for sleep, I fall asleep immediately and get a pronounced depth to my sleep. It is almost bizarre how it is the exact opposite pattern that I experience with working out doing conventional weights and cardio. Now, if I did weights and cardio in the morning then I have no problem at night and actually get great sleep. I just have problems when I do conventional working out at night, a problem that I don’t have with yoga.
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3 Responses to “Why Yoga Part 2 of 4: Clarity of Vision”
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Love the pic.
Golly, it sounds like yoga solves all the world’s problems!…lol
Yeah, I workout in the morning very soon after I get up…just to get it over with and crossed out on my list, but may need to incorporate more yoga in there. Thanks, Dr. Lam for the great advice on it!
cool heather. i am sure you are totally fit. yoga has just helped me get the discipline too to work out during the week. boy, it was hard to hit the gym in the evenings before and also i can’t wake up any earlier to go to the gym. just not in my blood to do it.
Cool!