Yoga - My First 30 Day Journey

My first blog entry - this is exciting. To start this whole thing off I'm going to tell you all (if anyone is reading lol) about my first 30 day yoga journey! I've always liked the idea of doing yoga but, to be honest, I've never really made the time for it. I'm usually super busy with uni, work and sometimes even a social life! However, with this whole Coronavirus thing I've suddenly found myself with an abundance of free time - what better excuse to try something new?

So I found Yoga With Adriene on Youtube. She is a yoga teacher/actress from Texas and has hundreds of videos guiding her viewers through yoga flows for every emotion and scenario you could think of. Yoga for mood swings? Yep. Yoga for runners? Yep. She even does yoga for bedtime, which is my favourite. She caters for people of all abilities and makes the practice available for everyone. One of my favourite features on her channel are her '30 Day Journeys', a playlist of sorts, which set a yoga practice each day for *you guessed it* 30 days.

So I started the first 30 Day playlist. As a beginner, I would totally recommend. Entitled '30 Days of Yoga', it really takes you through all the basics! You can find the first video in the series here.

And so I began. At the start it was HARD. Everything hurt and I've never felt less graceful or 'zen'. If I'm being truthful, I don't really believe in the whole spirituality thing but that's not really what yoga is for me (no disrespect if that's your thing!). Adriene always says to breathe and at first I felt so dumb but I've found breathing 'properly' (who knew there was a wrong way to breathe) actually helps hit the shapes and achieve deeper stretches. It even helps make the practice more chill, or gets you through the harder shapes which sometimes seem as though they last forever. At times, Adriene will be telling a full STORY while she's got us in some intense position and I find myself grumbling at her through my laptop.

What I love about yoga is that it can serve whatever purpose you want it to - you just have to get over the fact that you might not be the bendiest person, or the strongest. The truth is it doesn't matter! It can act as a workout (trust me - yoga can make you sweat), pain relief or something to help you wind down at the end of a long day. If you're feeling stressed it can take your mind off of your worries for a little while. If you're feeling happy and excited it can provide opportunity to push yourself to achieve a new position - my next goal is a headstand!

I'm now on Day 8 of a second 30 day journey (Yoga Camp, I'll review once I'm done!) - it gives a purpose to my day, which especially now is something we all need. I've even started doing extra videos on top of my daily allocated practice. I'm seeing really great progress in my flexibility, some strength improvement and certain positions get better everyday (namely my plank and downward dog!!). It also provides my family with some entertainment I'm sure - I'm no pro yogi and it definitely shows!

SO, I guess what I'm trying to say is: Yoga is great. You should try it. And let me know how you get on!! Or leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading my FIRST BLOG entry. Until next time (which will probably be tomorrow because I have nothing else to do).

Lana xoxo