Does Anyone Go Through This?

This week has been tough for me - very busy at work with deadlines everywhere, feeling a bit tired from last week's swimming/walking exertions and not being able to sleep as well as i used to when I was on the amitryptalin. I have been out of Fibronol for a week because it has been taking forever for them to ship it (quite disappointing) so my sleep has been quite out of whack.

My shoulders and neck have been hurting a lot from the swim and the lack of quality sleep, so I took a break from swimming. I took a 35 minute brisk walk Tuesday morning, worked non-stop, to feel heavy and beat-down over the past couple of mornings. Last night I was so tired I couldn't even taste what i was eating for dinner. I went to bed pretty early (10p?) after taking one pill of Sleepy Time (from pharmanex) risking feeling groggy the next morning because i really really needed sleep. 6am my eyes open and my shoulders, arms and ankles are aching. However, thanks to the sleeping aid my neck wasn't as stiff (which means i was able to get some quality sleep). I knew that swimming was again not going to happen because of the aches, but something in my heart told me to get up and do something. I had no idea what that *something* was supposed to be. Do my usual stretches? Strength training? Not feeling either.

As i was standing around in my living room, the cover case of the Yoga for Athletes DVD caught my eye. I didn't think i would have the strength for certain Yoga poses, but I turned it on anyway and just let my body figure it out.

During my first forward bend and neck stretches, I felt my left side hurting as i turned that direction - i'm thinking "ugh, here we go, the swim has tightened my neck again". After several plank and downward dog poses later I'm feeling a bit stronger, I was happy to see how my right hip held up on the warrior poses (Thank you, Dianna, my amazing sports massage therapist!)...and then about 30 minutes in during another forward bend/neck stretch, i saw that the kink on my left neck was gone. My ankles were not aching anymore. I did feel a little faint in one of the last two sun salutation routines, where i just rested instead, but overall my aches were washed off and the kinks were gone.

How interesting. Perhaps my body, feeling stiff after the swimming, walks, and strength training, needed some flushing out of the toxins in our muscles. Yoga does that for us. Of course without the quality sleep I got helped from Sleepy Time (or any good quality natural sleeping aid) i wouldn't have had the strength to even get up. Last night my legs were swollen from poor circulation and they felt like a ton of bricks. This morning I am walking as if i'm flying on wings.

I just thought that it was really interesting to get up in the morning feeling completely lost - and then now i'm feeling like a brand new person. Just because I thought i'd just get up and do something and the yoga DVD was calling out my name, and I obeyed.

Sometimes we just gotta get moving to see how our body responds, I guess.