It all started with son M1 who came down with a bad cough after being soaked in last week’s rains. Then C1 came down with the flu. Over the weekend, hubby began coughing and as our room is airconditioned, the germs were probably circulating around. It was just a matter of time before the bug hit me too.

These last 2 days were days I had not had in a while. I can’t remember the last time I was this sick. Chills, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing….

Today, I was a bit better and thought of doing some gentle yoga since I had neglected my practice for quite some time.

It was worse than I thought.

As I began with balance poses, I knew my body was out of sync. I was falling out of an easy Tree Pose! Then when I began the sun salutations, the downward dogs were tough as my arms could not seem to hold my body weight and I felt I had no strength to go from chaturanga to upward dog.

In the forward bends, my body felt stiff and the forward bends I used to do effortlessly came at a great effort. A few spinal twists, the Bridge Pose and the Fish Pose and I was ready to get into Savasana already!

In a way I was disappointed as this was clearly a setback for me. It will take a while again till I am back to form. But I was glad I had the will power to get back into the practice. I had to remind myself that this is not a competition and that there are benefits to the body regardless of whether you do only simple poses or get into the really complicated ones.

Today, gentle yoga was clearly not gentle as my body felt like it was an alien to yoga altogether. But if I can get enough time to practice more regularly, at my own pace first then later with a class, I think I can get back into my body rhythm.