Introduction

I began the idea of a blog in order to record my progress in starting something new. I wanted to develop better balance and coordination and I needed to determine a way to do it.

For the last five years, I’ve gone Christmas shopping with three of my friends from high school and we’ve done an overnight at a hotel. One of my friends is a yoga instructor, so on Saturday morning, she leads us in an hour of yoga. One friend occasionally goes to a yoga class and the other has tried it a little. Last year I, the youngest, discovered that I was the least flexible, and couldn’t wait for the hour to conclude. Everything hurt. It was a wake-up call.

It also happened that a writing group to which I belong in my hometown had chosen the theme of “journey” for our next year’s papers that we’d research, write and present. While contemplating a topic for my paper, I thought about some of our travels. I was looking for a book on one of our shelves and happened upon a slim volume entitled “Yoga for Beginners.” It spoke of beginning a journey toward increased productivity and balance. It was filled with pictures that didn’t look too difficult to emulate for my age -and started with breathing – something I’ve done all my life.  Then I discovered that the Wellness Center to which I belong held “Gentle Yoga for Beginners” as well as Yoga and advanced Yoga classes and a friend from a gardening group invited me to attend a Tai Chi class also at the Wellness Center. It seemed as if my “journey” was selected for me, and why not try blogging as a way to record it?! Maybe others would be inspired – or amused by it. And my paper would nearly write itself!