If you’re anything like me, you may have never gotten into yoga before because you just don’t have the patience for it or because you don’t feel like you’re “flexible” enough to do it – but let me prove you wrong! As I’ve learned over the past week, yoga is an amazing way to start or end your day, or it can give you a good pick-me up in the middle of a busy day. Plus, you don’t even need a yoga mat to do this – just a positive mindset and the desire to better yourself.
I’ve always felt discouraged from doing yoga because I could never reach down with my legs straight and touch my toes and because I never felt like I had the patience to do yoga. This semester has been pretty stressful with adjusting to online school and college life in a pandemic, so I’ve been stressed and anxious. I found that taking just 10 minutes out of my day to do yoga is seriously helping boost my mood and my mindset. All I do is go on YouTube and search “10 minute yoga,” and there are so many options of videos to follow. If you’ve never really done yoga before (like me) there are a bunch of beginner-level videos to help you get acquainted with doing yoga. There are also really specific yoga videos based on your interest and even the time of day. For example, in the morning I search for morning yoga videos, whereas if I want a quick stretch in the middle of the day I just search “5 minute mid-day yoga stretch.” It’s a great way to manage stress and anxiety, and is recommended by a lot of doctors and therapists. Yoga doesn’t just benefit your mental health, it also helps you to build and strengthen muscle and it improves your respiration & energy levels.
You don’t need to take an hour out of your day to spend some time on yourself, it can be as simple as just doing 10 minutes of yoga to set your goals and intentions for the day or unwind from the stress of your work. As I mentioned earlier, you don’t need any equipment, just a positive mindset and the intention to focus on and better yourself. All it takes is a quick YouTube search for a video to follow along with, and you’re set. Definitely consider incorporating yoga into your daily routine and you will see and feel the benefits!