So this post is a bit more personal than usual but I had a lot on my mind and I like to share my experiences with others so why not write about it right ?
Over a month ago I took the decision to start doing yoga. Now to put things in context as to why I got the sudden need to start doing it, basically I never was the athletic type, hated sports in highschool as long as I can remember. I'm not a team player. (being Introverted means that I'd rather do a sport alone than with others) And after a tough couple of months ( linked to being played by someone and I'll leave it at that ) I needed to take my very busy mind off all of those worries.
I tried meditation but just sitting and simply breathing allowed thoughts to keep flowing and never felt quite as good for me. So yoga felt like the right way to do things : not only can I make my body feel better by doing some challenging exercices and working on my flexibility and muscles' build, but I could also allow myself those moments just for me. Now I didn't know where to start or how to start. I'm not even the type of person who is physically flexible, (or at least I thought I wasn't) so why the sudden need to do it ?
I still can't quite explain what pushed me to get into it that seriously. I tried by the past solo sport activities like home bike stuff (it was awful) and never kept the will to keep going more than a few days before giving up. However with yoga, it's been over a month now and I don't intend to stop.
Before I tell you how and what I used to get started , let's talk about the results so far : Right from the 1st week, I knew I had to keep doing yoga . After just the 1st few sessions at home on my little yoga mat, I felt peaceful and less stressed/anxious and what the previous months did when it came to my stress level are slowly being eased into a bad memory.
I feel healthier. At least in my mind, yoga gives me what I sought for so long : a break. Depending on how much time I spend every day, I have at least 30min of pure bliss and I don't think about anything but the yoga poses I need to do during that time.
That reminds me of my old philosophy class almost a decade ago , I had a fantastic teacher who taught us that being present in the moment instead of thinking about the past or the future is quite a complicated task to achieve but you can get there with practice for a few moments. And yoga gave me just that. Everytime I get into it, I feel alive and fully aware of the present, of what is happening at that time without thinking of what's bothering me from the past or how scary the future and my doubts about it are. With yoga I feel here.
Now here's how I practice everyday, I have one condition everyday : do some no matter what. It means that if I feel like doing only 20 min of it on one day ,I shouldn't beat myself up because I ""only"" did just that. I did 20 min and that's more than good enough. No matter what,I need to remember that simply showing up and doing even 5 min is a good step forward.
So what I do is that everyday no matter what and depending on my mood, I do at least 20 min. Sometimes I do 40 min, even 60min but I do something.
I also got some great help getting started thanks to the lovely Adrienne from Yoga With Adrienne on Youtube. She has amazing videos and if you want to start, there's 2 great beginners videos to get you into it softly but surely, this is the one I used to start :
Then depending on how my body feels, sometimes I do sessions that are more aimed at a specific part of my body. These days it's especially about my lower back and making it feel better. I also do some for shoulders and neck if I feel a bit too stiff around that area.
Just over one month and I already feel so much more flexible. I cannot wait to see where I get from there and hopefully in a few years it'll be all worth it, I have no doubt about that.
Anyway that's my 2 cents on yoga from the point of view of a newby like me. Who knows maybe in a few years I'll talk more about it and tell you all about my progress . Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts on this article and thanks for checking it out !
I still can't quite explain what pushed me to get into it that seriously. I tried by the past solo sport activities like home bike stuff (it was awful) and never kept the will to keep going more than a few days before giving up. However with yoga, it's been over a month now and I don't intend to stop.
Before I tell you how and what I used to get started , let's talk about the results so far : Right from the 1st week, I knew I had to keep doing yoga . After just the 1st few sessions at home on my little yoga mat, I felt peaceful and less stressed/anxious and what the previous months did when it came to my stress level are slowly being eased into a bad memory.
I feel healthier. At least in my mind, yoga gives me what I sought for so long : a break. Depending on how much time I spend every day, I have at least 30min of pure bliss and I don't think about anything but the yoga poses I need to do during that time.
That reminds me of my old philosophy class almost a decade ago , I had a fantastic teacher who taught us that being present in the moment instead of thinking about the past or the future is quite a complicated task to achieve but you can get there with practice for a few moments. And yoga gave me just that. Everytime I get into it, I feel alive and fully aware of the present, of what is happening at that time without thinking of what's bothering me from the past or how scary the future and my doubts about it are. With yoga I feel here.
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| gif by Jelio Dimitrov |
Now here's how I practice everyday, I have one condition everyday : do some no matter what. It means that if I feel like doing only 20 min of it on one day ,I shouldn't beat myself up because I ""only"" did just that. I did 20 min and that's more than good enough. No matter what,I need to remember that simply showing up and doing even 5 min is a good step forward.
So what I do is that everyday no matter what and depending on my mood, I do at least 20 min. Sometimes I do 40 min, even 60min but I do something.
I also got some great help getting started thanks to the lovely Adrienne from Yoga With Adrienne on Youtube. She has amazing videos and if you want to start, there's 2 great beginners videos to get you into it softly but surely, this is the one I used to start :
Then depending on how my body feels, sometimes I do sessions that are more aimed at a specific part of my body. These days it's especially about my lower back and making it feel better. I also do some for shoulders and neck if I feel a bit too stiff around that area.
Just over one month and I already feel so much more flexible. I cannot wait to see where I get from there and hopefully in a few years it'll be all worth it, I have no doubt about that.
Anyway that's my 2 cents on yoga from the point of view of a newby like me. Who knows maybe in a few years I'll talk more about it and tell you all about my progress . Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts on this article and thanks for checking it out !
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