Things I Love - Yoga

Be present.

Yoga is one of my new favorite things.

I knew when I started my journey two years ago that I needed to work on flexibility. I started with just some basic stretches at home and have regained some of the movement I had lost due to inactivity and weight gain. But I need more. I still can't sit comfortably on the floor "criss-cross applesauce" (or "Indian Style" for you "old school" people). My hips, thighs, and back are tight.

And all the inflammation from too much sugar at Christmas time isn't helping. I hurt, y'all!

My trainer's instructions for my week-long vacation in Colorado was to have this be an "active recovery" week. He'd suggested I run outside; I don't run in the cold. It's too cold and hurts to breathe.

I mentioned my grandpa has an exercise bike in the basement. My trainer suggested that I ride for 40 minutes. I said my butt couldn't stay on that long, so he broke it into two 20 minute sessions. After one 20 minute session the first day that plan was foiled. I still can't sit quite right - my butt ain't built for sitting on a bicycle seat!

His other suggestion? The one that struck gold? Yoga!

I looked up yoga videos on YouTube and found a series that looked friendly, called "Yoga with Adrienne." I gave it a shot the first day and haven't tried any others. I've done a different one each day; some days I've done two shorter videos.

I love it. Yoga. It's hard because like I said before, I'm really tight in my hips, thighs, and back. It's nearly impossible or completely impossible for me to do some of the poses - for now. But even after a few consecutive days I can tell some poses are getting easier.

For today's practice I checked out her 30 Days of Yoga playlist; Day 1 of course. Now, if you've never done yoga before, or are still new, I'd recommend her intro to yoga series which teaches the poses, but if you're fairly comfortable with most basic poses, this is a good one. (Last night, I did the bedtime yoga and highly recommend that, too!)

But back to today's practice - 30 Days of Yoga, Day 1. I'm going to keep doing yoga while on vacation, but I'm going to start the 30 Days of Yoga challenge fresh in the new year and I'd like to invite you to join me. Check in with me each day on Facebook for the video link, or feel free to find it yourself on YouTube by looking up Yoga with Adrienne. And share with me, and others, in the comments on Facebook, about how your practice went for that day's video. Perhaps this can be part of your new year's resolution for better health? And really, it's only 30 days. You can do anything for 30 days if you put your mind to it, so let's do this together!