Workout of the week: All Over Yoga

I don’t do moderation so well. Actually, more accurately, I don’t do moderation. Period. It’s a personality flaw I’m working on—running three days a week rather than pretending I have the running mechanics/talent/time/resources of Kara Goucher, considering a second half-marathon in the fall rather than trying to force a full 26.2, and generally trying to behave like less of a Type-A, perfectionist jerk.

Don’t underestimate the power of that Type-A personality. It can even ruin yoga—ironically, one of the only things I’ve found to calm my sense of chaos and impatience. I’ve taken enough yoga classes to know about 30 to 45 minutes worth of poses that make me feel strong and relaxed, and I have a great yoga DVD. But I usually feel like I don’t have enough time to devote to a whole routine, so I skip it altogether.

Enter All Over Yoga, courtesy of Healthy Ashley’s terrific blog. She explains the idea this way: Yoga is not “some secret club reserved for expensive studios and self-proclaimed yogis.” Instead, “Yoga can be child’s pose in your living room. Yoga can be five minutes of deep breathing.”

For me, this means yoga doesn’t have to be the bikram class in Takoma Park I keep wanting to take, but can instead be plank pose before I run, tree pose while I’m waiting for water to boil for tea or boat pose before bed. I’m sure more committed souls reap far greater benefits from their hour-long yoga breaks. But for me, just doing *something* each day makes my frenzied mind calmer.

Know who else is doing yoga? The University of Maryland’s football team, as described in this Washington Post story.

Are you sitting at a desk, counting down the minutes until you can run or swim or walk or do whatever it is you do that stretches your lungs and soothes your soul? Check out Yoga Journal’s Yoga at Your Desk feature. Because a little bit really is better than nothing.