Friday was a very busy day for me. I had two events and car trouble! I ended up rushing from one event to the next with little time to even catch my breath. I intended to do my yoga practice that evening, but I ended up doing it just before bed.
I was lucky to find that the yoga practice that day was one of the less intense ones (for me!). I found myself centering as I practiced the deep breathing exercises while moving with “grace.” It was a much needed day for yoga!
Today I noticed my first major change from yoga. I was surprised to find that my pants felt looser around the waistband. I think all those planks are starting to work!
It’s so exciting to feel like I am getting healthier. Yes, my muscles are sore and a bit tired, but I already feel like I’m building muscle and strengthening my core.
Not only do I feel stronger on the outside, but I feel rejuvenated from within. It feels good to be reclaiming my health. It has definitely been challenging to stick with my #CheckedOffChallenge of 30 days of yoga. At times, it was hard to make myself complete my daily challenge, but it has been worth it. I can’t wait to see how I’ll feel on Day 30!
Every day I do my challenge and every day it seems as if the yoga goes faster and faster. I think that’s happening because:
The last point I made may be the most important for me. Today in particular, I wasn’t able to hold many of the balance poses as long as I was supposed to be able to hold them. But I told myself that it was okay and that I would be able to do that one day.
The practice also included a more advanced pose as an option and I have now made it my personal goal to work towards completing that pose. 🙂 After hours in front of the computer, I’m going to follow up my yoga practice with a walk outside before getting back to work. 🙂 What are some of your goals?
I spent a lot of time in front of the computer today so I was all wound up for yoga. Luckily, I was able to get out of the house for a little while this evening, indulge in pizza from my favorite pizza place for supper, and then start my yoga challenge with a fresh perspective.
Besides eating pizza just before yoga (bad idea!), my practice tonight was deeply relaxing. It had some difficult aspects, but it wasn’t impossible.
One of the most challenging moves for me was the lunge. I actually toppled over! It must have been that extra slice of pizza weighing me down. But, I am still feeling great and I feel like I will continue to improve. I LOVED the new stretch at the end and I’m definitely feeling ready for bed and a good book!
Today was my first “failure.” I had a full day of hiking and working on projects and I planned on doing my #CheckedOffChallenge late last night. Somehow, I forgot all about it!
At about 20 minutes to midnight, I remembered and I promptly started my Day 9 yoga practice. BUT… it was around 25 minutes long so I didn’t finish until a few minutes after midnight.
Some people may say that I didn’t finish my Day 9: #CheckedOffChallenge because it went a few minutes into the next day. I am a perfectionist and I wanted to say it myself!
However… part of yoga is learning to be kind to yourself. Therefore, I am going to view it as a learning experience and say that I did do yoga on my Day 9, whatever the clock may say.
I started before midnight anyhow! lol
I had a crazy busy (but fun!) weekend so I am still playing catch up on my posts. Day 8 was the most crazy, busy, fun day!
On Saturday morning, I woke up to a reminder about an outdoor yoga event I had wanted to attend. On a whim, I clicked on the link and found that the event had two available tickets! I assume that someone cancelled last minute and I scooped them up.
As I rushed to get ready, I realized that I would probably be doing my #CheckedOffChallenge yoga late that night. I will admit, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be up to TWO yoga challenges in a day, but I couldn’t pass up the outdoor yoga experience.
It was a beautiful, sunshiney day outside and I loved every minute of it. The sun shone warmly on me as we went through a gentle yoga exercise. We were then encouraged to hike the property and I came across a rainbow in the mist of a waterfall. The colors billowed across the rocks as the mist hit the water below. As a result, I was lucky to see a rainbow in motion and it was an absolutely gorgeous sight!
After spending the rest of the day visiting a local barn, family, and friends, I was absolutely exhausted and tempted to count my earlier yoga experience as my #CheckedOffChallenge. Luckily for me, I stuck to my promise because Day 8 was a wonderful short meditation-based exercise. It was a perfect way to end an already perfect day!
Day 7 was a wonderful workout. I was initially very nervous because I wasn’t sure what was involved with the workout. As many of you know, I am doing the Dedicate series on YouTube by @YogawithAdriene.
The theme of Day 7 was Surya. I didn’t know what that meant so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Oh, well, I reasoned, it’s a short workout so I should be fine.
It turns out that I really enjoyed this workout. The flow was so amazing and fluid, I was surprised when it was over. Overall, really enjoyable!
Today was one of the most challenging for me thus far. I had a pretty packed calendar and I planned to do Day 5 tonight, which may have been my first mistake.
So far in this challenge, I have done every day of yoga first thing in the morning. I’m not sure if it was the change in routine, muscle fatigue, or just general fatigue, but I wasn’t able to hold a couple of the last poses for the full duration. I had to modify and I hated that I had to do that.
This taught me that:
On some of the early poses, I felt amazing. And, even though I can already tell I’m going to be sore tomorrow, I can’t wait to get back to the mat!
As you might have noticed, I did not post my usual blog yesterday. I DID do my #CheckedOffChallenge, though.
My #CheckedOffChallenge was done at 5 a.m. and I didn’t get back home until very late in the evening. I LOVED Day 4. It was an awesome workout and something I really needed. It was all about hips, etc. and just really wonderful overall. Such a nice way to wake up in the morning!
Something interesting that I noticed was that I was able to easily walk up hills and stairs without getting out of breath. Since I’d only returned to Yoga for about 4 days at that point, I don’t think I can say this was entirely due to yoga, BUT I feel like it has helped a lot!
My extra challenge is that I haven’t done my #CheckedOffChallenge today. I have about 4 hours to complete it so wish me luck!
Okay, I’ll admit it again. It was still hard to get up this morning and do yoga. BUT… knowing that I would feel as good as I did yesterday afterwards made it a lot easier.
I like to go ahead and get it done first thing so I do it as soon as I get up in the morning. It really is a nice way to stretch and really wake up.
Easier this morning:
Challenging this morning:
I’ve been mentally preparing myself for tomorrow. It’s going to be extra challenging because I have a very early morning tomorrow and my goal is to make time to get my yoga in before I leave for the day. I’m so glad I have all of you to keep me accountable. Till tomorrow!
