I’ve been practicing yoga pretty regularly since February of this past year. It helps me with a lot of things, like stress, strength, and on my lifelong quest to touch my toes. So, for the past month I did something I’ve put off doing for a while now: 30 straight days of yoga. Now don’t get me wrong, I try to yoga every day to keep my muscles warm and ready but over the summer I started slacking. It was a combination of working full time and wanting to spend time with friends and family after work.
I follow an at home yoga instructor on YouTube named Adriene Mishler, and her channel, Yoga with Adriene, has really helped me get in the groove of all things at-home yoga. Now let me preface by saying that before I found Adriene’s channel I really hated yoga, I had tried it freshman year and it really wasn’t for me. I also really hate going to the gym because I always feel like people are staring and judging me for the exercise that I’m doing there, even though I know they aren’t. So Adriene’s channel is perfect for me.
She has a variety of videos for whatever you’re in the mood for like upper body strength and yoga for your hands, or for certain professions that you wouldn’t think about like yoga for chefs and yoga for equestrians. But the source of my quest is the 30-day yoga journeys that she does, normally released in January for the new year.
I started with “True,” the 30-day yoga journey from January of 2018. While each day is different, it builds off of the previous days. I was expecting for the 30 days to be relatively easy since I’ve been practicing yoga pretty regularly. I was wrong. These 30 practices kicked my butt in new and exciting ways each time I stepped onto the mat. I was amazed how often my legs and arms felt sore from a combination of stretching and building the muscles there. But I did start to see a change as the 30 days went on. First off, I was always excited to get on the mat for those days. Even if my body was tired and I didn’t feel particularly like doing yoga that day I knew that at the end of the 30 days it would be worth it.
And it was, when I finished, the biggest smile broke out on my face because I knew that I had completed all of the days in order over the course of 30 days which I feel like is an achievement. I am 100% willing to do another planned 30-day yoga experience but I think my muscles need a bit of a break first. I also recommend Adriene’s channel, she’s a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed yoga because of her and her videos. And as Adriene says, “Find what feels good and Namaste.”