Well I woke up this morning, made a cup of coffee and turned on my computer.  That's when it hit me.  I just spent my first weekend at home in four weeks.  Then I looked at the homepage of the New York Times and realized that the first week of December marks the start of my fifth month living in Bulgaria.

I had a hard time believing that I could have actually lived here for four months already so I counted it out on my fingers to be sure.  I am an English major after all.  But it's true: I've been living in Sofia for the last four months and this week marks the start of my fifth month.  I have a hunch that means that in the next two or three months I need to get my act together and start thinking about what's next for me.

Instead, I decided yesterday that I need to start practicing yoga again.  There are a couple of really great yoga websites online like yoga today and itunes also has a fair number of podcasts you can download and practice along with.  So after practicing fairly regularly in DC for the last three years and a dozen times in the last four months, I unrolled my mat and did an hour of sun salutations.  Turns out this may not have been my best plan ever--maybe I should have started out a little slower.  <!--more-->

When I woke up this morning, I was achy-sore.  I figured it wasn't anything some caffeine and a little slower paced yoga practice couldn't take care of.  Luckily, for the most part, I was right.  I felt taller all day walking around Sofia.  It's amazing that practicing yoga can do that to a girl.  The thing I maybe shouldn't have done was a huge number of sit-ups after my yoga today--maybe I should have just done half of what I did.

Walking back from school this afternoon, I think I felt every ab muscle in my stomach.  I know that this is a good thing but when you're in the middle of it is feels more like a bad thing.  Also, it reminds me that I lost a lot of strength/endurance that I gained this summer when I was working with my personal trainer.  Oh well, I am getting back on track and by the end of this week, I will be back in the swing of things.

The funny thing about this whole yoga-business is that before I left DC a yoga instructor made some off hand comment about yoga practice; he said that "practicing three times a week will make you noticeably stronger and that five times a week will change your life. "  When he said this it struck a chord with me, I had been going to a yoga class once a week or maybe twice a week if I was lucky but I couldn't help but wonder if he was right.

So what's the point of this post? To rub in the fact that I can get out of bed at 8 in the morning do yoga, read the internet, write a blog post and then get on with my day? Um, no.  The post is giving me a chance to think about how we create habits and stick with things that are hard for us.

This is I think one of the things that is hardest to do.  Every year, usually in January and then again in June or July, I say to myself: I am going to learn how to do X this year.  I get started learning how to do X and then one day I don't feel like doing it.  So I don't.  Then the next day it's that much harder to get back to it. The end result is that I never really learn how to do X really well.

On top of all of this, I want to have a life long healthy habit.  For some people this is tennis or golf or dancing but I am not very good at any of those things.  Yoga, however, I like and I am fairly good at.  Okay, I am not going to be teaching any classes anytime soon but I like that it's something that you can do at your own pace; I like that you can choose poses depending on how you feel; I like that you control the intensity of each stretch and pose; I like that there is a little bit of something for everyone and that because of this, the practice is always a challenge.

So if living in Sofia, trying to learn Bulgarian and teaching English were not challenges enough, I am taking on the regular practice of yoga as a new challenge.  Wish me luck. Oh and if anyone knows a good yoga studio or two in Sofia--I'd love to know the names of the studios.