As I have discussed previously here, here, here, and here, I practiced yoga a lot last year, but in the autumn I unfortunately let it slide. After the car accident in September there was very little thought of anything but healing and after that we've been busy moving and doing all sorts of things.

By now it looks pretty nice in our home — which is important to me — and I have my own spot where I can do yoga again and I'm trying to return to my old routine. Yesterday was the first time and it could certainly be felt as muscle fever as I woke up this morning. It wasn't bad, however, and I successfully completed my second yoga practice earlier. It feels really good to be doing yoga again.

Photo borrowed from Improve me.

This is what I made today: a bag for my yoga mats. I had a piece of cotton fabric and decided to make this quite large mat bag, which will work well especially for my travel mat and the cotton rug combined. These two are the yoga mats I most likely will be bringing with me when I'm travelling.

I've added a few more asanas, for instance "half shoulder stand" and the "fish pose," to my regular morning yoga practice and the level of difficulty is increasing, but it's really good fun. In the last six week I have only missed out twice (once because we had to drive early and the second time because we had laundry day and a number of other urgent practical things to attend to) and I feel rather proud of myself. I'm amazed by how much stronger my body feels and the various movements I'm suddenly able to do. I really do like this daily routine, and it certainly doesn't feel like a chore.

So... this is the yoga equipment I ended up buying (well, the black trousers I already had): very light cotton tops in various colours, a pair of green and a pair of grey cotton pants, all of it from H&M. Today I received my new Casall yoga mat from Stadium, and I really look forward to trying it out tomorrow morning. A extremely light white yoga travel mat and the cream white cotton yoga rug will hopefully arrive mid May from Yoga Matters, just in time for our upcoming travels.

I've been doing yoga faithfully for the last week, half an hour per day, and it feels great. My body feels less tensed already, my back and my hips are slowly recovering their strength, and I'm moving far more easily. However, at this point in time I really don't have the proper equipment or the "right" clothes. I simply use a really old pair of black pants and a bright pink t-shirt, which I received at work a few years ago. The mat is the type you'd sleep on when going camping, which works but isn't perfect with regards to grip. It all works for now, but I've begun to think about alternative equipment. If I continue to do yoga to the extent I have this past week, I'd love to be able to buy some proper equipment in perhaps two or three months' time.

This is what I have in mind right now: a simple top from H&M, white yoga pants from Röhnisch, a basic sticky yoga mat for everyday use such as the chai (chocolate brown) one at Gaiam, a traditional Indian cotton rug to have on top of the other mat if the surface needs to be softer, and perhaps an ultra light travel yoga mat from Yogamatters.com. An olive yoga mat bag from Overstock might be good as well.

Feeling my body becoming stronger is amazing in itself, but some new clothes and equipment might not be bad as a carrot either. Onwards.

Spring equinox. The day is as long as the night, the tide has turned, and it has indeed been an amazingly warm and sunny day.

I have begun what will hopefully become a new habit as well: yoga in the mornings. My work has kept me very still for a long time now with hardly any time for exercise at all, which has resulted in a really weak back. I needed to do something about it and picked up a book I bought a long time ago, The Complete Yoga Course, and decided to give it a go. It does already feel like the perfect way to start the day.