When it comes to sticking to a challenge or a hobby, I normally find myself quitting and never finishing what I started. I wanted to challenge myself to finish something that would be an asset to my well-being. When the start of January came, I decided to hop on board and complete Adriene Louise’s 30 Days of Yoga journey.
Yoga practices and variations have been around for upwards of 5,000 to 10,000 years. It is unclear exactly when the practice of yoga came to be. However, over the years, yoga evolved into different forms, and all of them promote physical and mental health benefits.
When I embarked on my 30-day journey, I learned more than I thought I would. A large part of this journey not only altered my physical health, but it positively affected my mental wellbeing. Below I will outline the three lessons that my 30-day journey taught me.
Time Commitment
When I first started, I was consistently looking ahead at the calendar that was provided and analyzing how much time out of my day this was going to take up. I didn’t realize until two weeks in that what I was doing was not beneficial to me. I wasn’t trying to see when I could fit it into my day, but instead, I was worried about how much time it would take up from my other tasks (which wasn’t a lot). Once I reached the two-week mark, I stopped looking at the time and just did the practice. This had taught me that what I should have been doing was just living and breathing in the moment instead of worrying about the time.
Acceptance
Something that I enjoyed and valued from doing this practice with Adriene is that I didn’t feel pushed to go the extra mile with a certain pose. Sometimes it would get frustrating not being able to hold a pose or bend my body a specific way. However, what I learned from this is to accept these imperfections. I understood that not everybody is going to be flawless because we all have flaws, and I learned to accept mine.
Breathe
The specific yoga journey I embarked on was called “Breath”. It is a known fact that breathing is essential to living. But, I learned that breath can be used in more than just being essential to our life. The practice taught me various forms of breathing, largely focusing on meditation. I now know by simply breathing and focusing on myself that it has many benefits to my mental wellbeing, especially in times of frustration or sadness.
They may not look like much, but these three lessons are extremely important to me. They are the core of my yoga journey. I am no longer saying that I completed this challenge, as it is called a yoga “journey”, meant to be a continuing practice of your body and mind. I have already begun Adriene’s February practice, and I am planning for my yoga journey to become rooted in my routine so I can continue this exploration of my mind and body.