Corky Bloom Studio

Like most people, I like to go out with friends and have a good time.  Maybe we’ll have some beers and talk about the going on in our lives. The thing that people use to do before twitter. Now to combat the beers and the fatty pub foods, I go to the gym to work out and also play recreational sports.  This has helped me to stay fit, so I thought. Playing flag football a while back, I manage to pull my hamstring. The pain was unbearable as if I got hit in the crotch with a sledge hammer. I had to rest up for a couple of weeks, but I started to realize certain things about myself. Like the fact that father time is catching up to me. I thought my workouts were slowing it down, but that was not the case. The injury open my eyes to what would become a normal thing if I play intense sports. Then one day I discovered something that was able to hold back the hands of time. It was yoga.

My feeling about yoga is that it lame. I don’t want to mediate and say Namaste. I saw yoga as some new age hippie thing that would require me to give up meat and dance in the sun with my arms waving about. A friend suggested a yoga program that I should use to help with the hamstring. The program focuses more on aerobic exercise which I like. I agreed and began doing yoga at home. I wanted to do this at home because I don’t want anyone to see me doing downward dog or as I struggle to do one of the warrior poses.  What I started to realize is yoga was tougher than I thought. I was shaking so bad because I was using muscles that I didn’t know that I had. All this time I thought I was weigh training those muscles, but I was wrong.

I was beginning to think that I was going to lose this battle, but day after day, I kept on pushing through the yoga program. Then something strange began to happen, my muscle was beginning to become stronger. I had more strength especially in my core and I was slowly becoming more flexible. I can’t remember the last time I could bend like I can now. Also, I was able to strength my hamstring and push aside the hands of father time.

To this day I still do yoga, but I don’t do that Namaste stuff. I find that I feel younger and stronger by keeping up with my program. Playing sports, I don’t get injured as easily which is a good thing. Another thing that came out of doing yoga is I’m able to keep my weight down. This has been a blessing since I like to have beers with my close friends. In the end, the real battle isn’t with sport injuries, but with the dreaded beer gut.

If you are in Ottawa here is a pub to check out. I know it defeats the purpose of the blog.

James Street Pub