Day 42: Sunday Stretch

Imagine walking into your kitchen and seeing something like this. Although it looks like a picture of a corpse with severe rigor mortis, it is merely me doing a shoulder stand in my girlfriend, Karen's, living room (view from the kitchen). In fact, it is quite the opposite of rigor mortis these days, because I am finally becoming much more flexible.

I'm haven't become a Gumby yet, but I am noticing quite significant changes in the way my body can move now. I am able to squat and bend more easily and without any pain. My father and I assembled the bunk beds from Hell this week and I had to move my body around into all kinds of angles and positions. Except for the fact that I am a large ogre and require lots of space, I had not trouble bending myself into various contortions during the 4-hour assembly process.

Stretching used to be a pain and something I always neglected. Now that I am stretching almost daily and experiencing the benefits first hand in my life, I now look forward to my stretching workouts. In fact, stretching and yoga have become my two most important workouts. I have a long way to go but I have also come a long way. Seven weeks ago, if I'd tried a shoulder stand, my girlfriend, Karen, would have been calling 911 instead of taking this photo.