Yoga Flame

Ok so before I began my personal quest towards better health and better life satisfaction, the only things I knew about Yoga were from Street Fighter II and a few buzz clips on TV here and there. "Yoga Flame" "Yoga Fire" were two moves from the character Dhalsim from Street Fighter II, the popular video game back in the day. (Ok so I'm dating myself here...) The Indian character could levitate in a cross-legged pose, could shoot flames from his hands, and could kick and punch by extending his legs and arms like Gumby. Other than that, I thought Yoga was for women and was relaxing and easy. I thought wrong. One of the things Tony Horton has taught me was to get outside of my comfort zone, and change and results will happen.

The first time I did Yoga X, the 90-minute yoga exercise from P90X, I was worn out from the first three workouts early in the week and I thought, "well this will be relaxing". Wow...what I realized is that it was the most challenging aspect of the program. I was forced to do odd stretches and hold weird poses, and though I wasn't doing cardio or lifting weights, I had to modify many of these moves so I could get through the workout, and after the routine I was sweating my butt off! Another thing happened, though. At the end, after concentrating on aligning my appendages and focusing on breathing deeply, and by stretching muscles that I never really knew existed before, we did relaxing, more meditative types of moves which really eased my mind. And the finale of "Ohms" often left my eyes teary due to a euphoric bliss I felt throughout my entire system. I also attribute my huge improvement in flexibility, balance, strength, and peace of mind to Yoga. If you are an athlete, Yoga is essential, and it will help you improve on every level of fitness. I now feel that if I go over a week without some form of yoga, I feel out of whack and I crave it to help me with recovery, which is just as important as working out. Click on the title of this link to find out more about various yoga forms and also which Beachbody programs feature them, and as always, please post a question, comment, or personal story of your own. Please contact me if you are ever interested in any Beachbody products and/or home fitness in general. Thanks for reading everyone, and have a great Sunday!