This morning I visited my headache specialist to figure out how to eliminate this ridiculous everlasting headache. After we briefly discussed my terrible posture and the fact that I get zero exercise each day (I really am a complete disaster), we had the following conversation.
Headache Specialist: Do you, by any chance, have a Wii?
Me (wanting to cry because No. No, I do not have a Wii!): No. No, I do not have a Wii!
Headache Specialist: The only reason I ask is because the Wii Fit has a good yoga routine, and a lot of my patients have found that it helps with their tension headaches.
Me: Prescribe one for me. Seriously. Will my insurance cover it? Let’s do this.
HS: If you already had a Wii, I’d probably suggest you get a Wii Fit. BUT, I can’t ask you to spend that kind of money on the entire system.
Me: Prescribe it. Do it. Let’s make this happen. I dare you.
HS: I think I’ll give you a muscle relaxer and ask you to get a basic yoga DVD.
Okay. I’ll probably take the muscle relaxers a few times. However, I know myself well enough to know that the DVD will get exactly six days of use. (I tend to lose motivation with exercise DVDs after six attempts. See, I really AM a complete disaster.)
Anyway. Starting tonight? Muscle relaxers and a second attempt at Rodney Yee, who wants to kiss me. (At least that’s what I pretend as he poses himself wearing nothing but leggings.)
(This is the headache talking. I don’t normally beg.) Oh, Nintendo. If I had a Wii Fit, my headaches might be cured! Seriously: You could heal a girl in St. Louis with the mailing of one complimentary game system! Is it time for you to Pay it Forward, Nintendo? Is it? Um, please? How’s this for an incentive: If you send me a Wii/Wii Fit combo, I’ll make a video of myself working out wearing nothing but leggings. (If that’s not an incentive, well, let’s just forget I ever typed that sentence.)
EDITED TO ADD: Jeff just called to express his concern about the muscle relaxers. “Wouldn’t it be weird if it went straight to your bowels? Like, you’re still feeling a bit stiff-necked, and then All of a Sudden! Whoops! What the…?!” So, yeah. Now I’m afraid to leave the house. ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>
If you really want to capture the whole Rodney Yee yoga video effect, you know where you’ll have to stuff those marshmallows this time!
i hear you on the DVD burnout.
i know that there are a plethora of places in STL to take yoga classes, but i’ve tried most of them & none were a good fit until I met my current teacher. if you are looking for a recommendation, I suggest Jane Fitzgerald’s classes. She teaches in a number of places in the city, and i can pass on her info if you are interested. Super fun and mellow, not filled with gym rats that make you feel self conscious. … anyway, i can send her info if you’d like to see if any of the locations are convenient for you.
The Wii Fit yoga is awesome. It’s not hard or twisty, but damn, does it do a number on cracking my back. It’s miraculous!
oh man, I hope you get a Wii, because then you will be the master of recieving free electronic equipment.
Six days is better than how long I go with a DVD. Which is one day.
The whole idea of exercising in front of a TV gives me the lip curls. I guess that makes me a fitness elitist, but my nostrils always flare when I run past the gyms where people are plugging away on a treadmill in a smelly room. Seriously? Paying money when you can just go outside and do it for free? Why? You miss out on seeing naked people on tandem bikes in the Castro.
That said, I have 10 friends who say Wii Fit is awesome. They say this without making eye contact with me though.
We have a Wii, and it’s good get-you-off-the-couch fun even without the Fit component. Our whole family plays together routinely. Ask Santa (or your in-laws) to get it for you for Xmas.
I read a review of the WiiFit yoga, and it wasn’t great. Personally, I have no problem exercising in front of the TV, and have done yoga for a decade, so I might not be a good test case. But, Rodney Yee is AWESOME – stick with him long enough to memorize some of the basic poses. Then promise yourself 20 minutes of breathing work and just a pose or 2 three times a week, and you will see a huge improvement in your stress management. I’m not kidding. And you’re worth it (Miss Clairol)!
I tire of yoga DVDs quite easily…so I love Yoga Today (www.yogatoday.com). There’s a new class everyday, and they keep classes available for about a week (go to Watch Classes under Get Started Today). Adi’s and Sarah’s classes are my favorites (Adi because of her ashtanga-based series, and Sarah because of her kundalini-inspired series).
Yoga made me an inch and a half taller, so hopefully it will help with your headache!
muscle relaxer don’t make you “go.” In face, they barely make you relax, in my experience. I expected to feel all good and mellow and instead felt NOTHING! muscle relaxers! You are a lie!!!
Yup, the doc mentioning it would be all the permission I’d need to get on the Wii train. But I would have to get a good TV first.
That being said, there are several yoga podcasts, video and audio, that you can download and use for free.
A cheap way to take yoga in STL is to sign up through STL Community College. You pay college fees (cheap) for yoga classes through actual studios. I took several classes at Marbles on Park that way, and I saved a lot of money. I think it was like $48 for 8 classes.
I’m over here in Iowa and there’s not a Wii to be found anywhere. Or maybe my mom’s right and I really never did learn how to move the milk to find the pickles. So to speak. Either way, I’m so sad. If Nintendo takes pity on your migraines and sends you a Wii, I’m going to send you my migraines. Feel free to yoga them and send them back here to the Hawkeye state.
You will also get about six days of use out of the Wii Fit. During your body test it will tell you that your posture is bad and that you are obese. It will then remind you of these things every time you log in. It will also harass you for not working out enough. Oh, and if you are tired and your balance is off one day, it will tell you that your Wii Fit Age is 62 and you will cry. But, it’s lots of fun! You should totally get one!
Wii Fit!! That’s what I should have asked for for my birthday… wonder if it’s too late… hmm… If it’ll help with my headaches it would be worth it! I hope you get some relief in the form of a complimentary Wii system!
Can I tell you a secret? I was one of Rodney’s Yee’s kid’s elementary school
teachers one year. He was a nice mellow guy who was mildly concerned about us thinking of him as being something other than a normal person. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I wasn’t starstruck at all, just weirded out by the fact that I had more or less seen him in his undies. And you know what he looks like in his undies!
BTW I think you should get Dance Dance Revolution. It isn’t yoga but it is fun exercise. You get feedback multiple times a second–often saying things like “AWESOME!” which is pretty much the minimum of coaxing I need.
Oh man. I can punctuate, I swear.
I have both chronic headaches AND a Rodney Yee dvd. So far, I have chronic headaches and a pretend boyfriend named Rodney. He’s dreamy.
In my yoga DVD, Rodney Yee is just wearing some sort of speedo-type shorts. Maybe I should get that back out again…
I’ve been telling Santa for MONTHS that he should bring us a Wii Fit. And Santa gets tension headaches. You, Ms. Pudding, have just SAVED CHRISTMAS.
God bless us, every one.
Muscle relaxers don’t make you poo. Jeff is funny. Take them at night, though. They can make you tired. Feel better.
I have a Wii, but no Wii Fit (on my list), and I love the Wii. Get one. The Dance Dance Revolution is fun too…Yoga, I’ve gone to Yoga Source on Big Bend a hand full of times and the teacher I like there is Tarraugh (Tara). $15 for an hour and a half session. I go on Thursday nights from 6:15-7:45. She teaches on Monday’s there as well and at another location the rest of the week. I too tried the at home Yoga DVD’s, the directions said to watch them through once before you started any of the poses…I fell asleep and never used them again. Good Luck!
One more thing…I asked the advise of a good friend of mine who is a natural healer…she suggested getting a massage and focus on your traps and getting those worked on real good, and also she said you could be procrastinating about something, just do what you need to do and that should relieve some of the tension…
I miss the Pudding Truck. There, I said it.
Can we have a weekly (daily?) post dedicated to direct transcriptions of Meredith-isms? I am living on them right now.
This comment is unrelated to this post! Alright!
I’m sure your local library has some yoga DVDs to spare. You can check them out for a week, get bored after 6 days, and take them back. Voila!
Mr. Yee scares me, I much prefer the blond woman. Hope the drugs help!
I also covet the Wii and WiiFit but do not have the funds to buy it at this time. :-(. I’ve been saying this for awhile so the other day I decided to do something about it and started a Wii fund (an envelope stashed in the kitchen utility drawer). If my husband and I put in $5-$10 whenever we can, maybe we’ll own one sooner rather than later.
Thanks to Carrie for the http://www.yogatoday.com suggestion–I just finished my first class and I feel great!
I get wicked bad tension headaches and finally discovered they are from clenching my teeth at night. I have receding gums and a cracked tooth from it too. Yay! My dentist recommended this: http://www.nti-tss.com/
It’s expensive (more than a Wii), but it has really helped. I wear it during the day sometimes too.
Husbands are so helpful sometimes.
I am down 12 pounds in 5 weeks thanks to the Wii Fit. AND it keeps telling me that my posture is really great which is probably untrue. So I love me some Wii Fit! Totally worth the debt.