Before I begin, I'd like to put in a plug for a clothing company started by a former high school classmate. Pretty Girl Movement inspires body positivity and fitness in all women, regardless of size or age. I, like many women, often struggle with self-image and motivating myself to work out, so this was definitely a movement I could get behind. I bought a tank that I could show off at my yoga studio, and it really does remind me why I work out: to feel good about myself inside and out. Check out the website to learn more and browse their selection of tanks, snapbacks, sweatshirts and more.

Okay, now onto the yoga!

I hauled myself out of bed on Sunday morning and ventured back to my yoga studio. I hadn't been since the previous Sunday since, as I said in an earlier blog post, I had a few bad days this week and didn't quite feel like leaving our apartment. But my desire to lose some winter weight, manage my endo pain and get my body back into its previous shape won out, and I threw on my workout clothes and headed out into the snow.

Last week, I experienced a little bit of pain during and after yoga, so I was happy that there were a lot of families with young children at Sunday's session. Maybe Pierre would take it a bit easier on us for the kids' sake! (Spoiler Alert: No, he didn't.)

During the last class, I had a lot of issues with any pose that required laying on my stomach, which made sense because of my incisions. This time around, I could tell my stomach was pretty much healed from the surgery, and I was able to do poses that had once come easily to me. I'm sure it's not fully healed because I still experience soreness, but all things considered, it's mostly back to normal.

I've always struggled with warrior poses, especially since Pierre is hell-bent on making sure my legs are extended as far as legs can go. I'm 5'10", and what looks like a normal stance for most people is waaayyy too short for me. I've got to hand it to Pierre, though. He's teaching me a lot about my own abilities, and prior to my surgery, I was building up strength fast. I've never had confidence in my physical strength or flexibility (Thanks, middle school gym class!) but yoga has really helped me see that I can have that type of body.

So yoga was going great until I hit another wall. Last night (Tuesday night), I had a sudden onset of pain and nausea right when Andrew and I were headed to bed. I seriously don't think I'd felt that bad since before I was on continuous birth control. A Midol and heating pad helped a bit, and I eventually fell asleep. But I woke up multiple times and ended up working from home to manage the soreness and fatigue. I had scheduled yoga class for that evening, but after barely keeping my eyes open that day and still feeling pain where my endo had been burned off in surgery, I decided to accept my limitations for the day and skip out on class.

That still made me feel pretty terrible. I've always been hard on myself, and I don't like saying no to things. Again, here was a lesson in recovery, patience and humility. Andrew helped me remind myself that I went in for surgery only a month ago and that I've since then been diagnosed with an incurable chronic pain condition. So if I have a bad pain day, it's okay to take it easy. That's not to say I should never push myself, but I shouldn't beat myself up over not feeling well and taking a day to rest.

So today, I said to myself that I'll be doing pretty good if I can carve out 30 minutes of yoga a day and make it to class once or twice a week. I think that will allow me to restrengthen my body at a steady and realistic pace while making room for days where I will inevitably be feeling awful. It'l also help me manage my endo pain without stressing out my body too much.

Overall, I really think yoga is helping my endo. I just did a quick 30 minute session in my living room (Juno had to be locked up to avoid the temptation of eating my hair), and I feel a lot better than I did all day today. It's hard to force yourself to get moving when you feel so crappy, but I know that I almost always feel better once I do get up, even if I'm not driving to the yoga studio.

Now that I have a bit more of a realistic fitness goal, I'm looking forward to working on my health. Hopefully, this will make more sense for my condition.

Thanks for reading, and remember to check out Pretty Girl Movement. Also, don't forget you can sign up to have new blog posts sent to your email.