Stretching. It may be the most under appreciated exercise that exists. I, for one, had completely neglected to incorporate this into my routine for (what may have been) years.

(Looking back I'm not sure what I've done over the last few years, but that's a story for another day…priorities and life-balance, it's a constant struggle.)

One seemingly stress-filled night a little over a year ago I was working on my laptop, my back was aching, my nerves were shot, my hands hurt, my eyes were strained, I was sleep deprived and just irritable, I needed a break - a something.  I was feeling like a hunchback, which was probably adding to the stress, "damn, we're all going to be hunchbacks if we don't get off our dang computers and start being more active. These little work spaces where we spend our days, our eyes focused on a eighteen inches of glowing surface and our hands cramped up in spaces just as small," I thought.

That night I pulled myself off the sofa and sat on the floor. My first stretch was the butterfly and it hurt. So much. I stool up and hung upside down for a little while, attempting to touch my toes - what the hell had I done to myself…I was going to be a hunchback…

I spent the next ten minutes moving into various different stretching positions, stretching my arms, my neck, my calves… and when I stopped, I stood up and realized that the irritable energy that was unshakable before had been released. I felt, better? Just from stretching? Wow.

These days, I'm much better about including yoga and stretching into my life. Above running and weights, it's what will keep me from being Quasimodo-esh, and well, that's important. haha

The best news about this post is two-fold. Just this morning I did yoga and posted something to my blog. I am getting better about establishing balance and finding priorities. Two parts of life that, when accomplished, help me feel like I'm on the right track.

I will leave you with this, a small tidbit of motivation from the Sunscreen Song:

xo, spill love.