I'm starting to feel the benefits of regular practice.
I've been doing yoga for about a month now and my body is starting to relax, loosen, and release. I'm noticing that I feel less tense in general and my moods have been more positive lately.
But the best thing by far is that my body seems to relax into the asanas a lot faster than before. When I first started, I could do an entire practice holding a lot of tension. Now, my body seems to sense the poses when I go into them and relax accordingly. Not completely and not all the time, but it's becoming common and I like it!
I'm starting to notice the "small" tension I carry. By that, I mean that most of my tension seems to be in the smaller muscle groups that support the large muscles. For example, my hamstrings and quadriceps are pretty loose and generally don't hold tension, but the muscles in my hips and around my knees are very tight.When I go into an asana, I can really feel these types of muscle groups, whereas before it was mostly the major muscles.
I just re-read that paragraph and had to laugh because the "small" tension is by no means small. And its effects over the long term could be disastrous. Muscles supporting the joints should allow free and easy movement, not be tight and restrictive, and cause unnecessary wear on the joints.
So now I will begin to focus on releasing these supporting muscles and continue freeing myself from what feels like a lifetime of tension.
