I Need a New Chair

Yoga has been calling my name. This morning I listened. I was wiped out last night--for what reason, I cannot say. I never understand when my body becomes heavy with exhaustion and the only thing I can attribute the feeling to is mental exhaustion, but even then, there isn't much.

I've noticed that my right shoulder and the area right where it connects, has lost some range of motion. I'm sure it has to do with that being my dominant mousing arm at work and the position that my desk and chair force me into. For years my work chair has been horribly uncomfortable and I have wanted a new chair, but how do you really properly find a new, ergonomic chair, that fits your body, without sitting in all of them?

Office stores don't usually have dozens of chairs to sit in and I once did find a chair that looked good in the picture, and the description said all the right things, but when I got the chair it was more uncomfortable than the one that I started with, the one I still sit in.

Sometimes it's uncomfortable to sit, so I stand awkwardly above my desk. I've thought about how I can make my work area a standing station. It's hard to imagine it with the space I have. My right wrist has also been showing signs--repetitive motion, etc. It motivates me to want to do more Yoga, to use the 2 pound weights I recently bought with good intentions. I've only picked them up a few times. I did use them today after Yoga, which was a positive sign.

I had a dream last night. I was at the Relax the Back store searching for work chairs. I went to that store years ago and was pleased at the offerings. They even had petite sized chairs. The cost, though, was at least twice or three times as much as a regular chair.

This is the year for a new chair or a makeshift stand up station. This is one change I need to make.

Morning Relaxation

It was a stiff morning, and though my body is still young-ish, it sometimes creaks. It seemed a good day for Yoga. Slow down. Center yourself. Invite peace. Offer peace.

The same CD always brings an instant calm—more than any of the other meditative CDs. Why is that? Was it the one that I used from the very early stages?

And so I begin with the poses that I’m familiar with and that my body yearns for. It’s a brief session; next time, perhaps longer. As I lay there, transitioning toward the end of my session, body face down, head to the side, fully relaxed, the music washes over me, the plucking of the sitar lulls my body deeper into relaxation, punctuated by the ting, ting, of the chimes, a deep breath exits my mouth. I feel all the muscles loosen—a deep calm permeates the tight muscles of my bodily container. I hear the rain outside through the bedroom window. It snuck in—wheels driving by on wet pavement turns to the swish of waterfalls.

I rise out of this pose slowly, carefully, in small stages. After a few more poses, my body decides that my next to last pose will be the warrior and my mind decides it will be for strength.

The last, how I always end, is to give thanks. Today, I turn to the North, East, South, and West, and bow with my hands in prayer, held close together, like angel wings surrounding a beating heart. I then kiss my palms and blow a kiss of love into our home and out into the universe.