Hello! How are you? I am good! But, I am not bendy. I want to be bendy though! (By ‘bendy’ I mean flexible.) So, I am doing a 30 day yoga challenge. Do you want to join me? I don’t want to tell you what to do, but you should totally join me. It’s good for you.
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I always talk about yoga, but I don’t actually do yoga. And unfortunately talking about something doesn’t give you the benefits of actually doing it (I know because I tried this with talking about dieting while eating ice cream and I still gained weight).
Anyway.
I need to do yoga because:
A.) I don’t stretch after running (if I do it’s for 5 minutes and just my IT band).
B.) I have thyroid issues and those are sometimes connected to your adrenal system. Calming meditation and yoga are good for the adrenal system. It is a great exercise to balance energy in your body.
C.) Running can be considered a stressful type of exercise on your body and yoga is a calming one to balance that out.
D.) Challenging yoga is a good strength exercise to go along with all the cardio I do running.
E.) I have tons of yoga pants that have never been to yoga.
So it just came to me this morning and I thought – if you can break a bad habit in 21 days (or 30 depending on who you ask) you should be able to make a good habit in 30 days! And I decided to do yoga for 30 days to make it a part of my life.
After a 6 mile recovery run I googled ‘yoga sun salutations’ and chose this easy and short yoga session on YouTube.
It was a really good stretch session, but I want a good mix of stretching and strength training type yoga over the course of the next 30 days. I also want to enroll in the yoga school in Rishikesh to help me improve my physical health and reduce my stress.
I’m going to aim to do yoga for at least 30 minutes everyday for the next 30 days. I don’t expect myself to do it everyday for the rest of my life, but I do want to make it a part of my routine and end up practicing yoga a couple times a week. I need it!
If you want to join me I thought up a few options for how to do the yoga challenge. You can do it everyday for the next 30 along with me or you could set your own goal like “I will do yoga 10 times over the next 30 days.”
For option #3 there are a lot of yoga poses on Pinterest for a 30 day yoga challenge. There are images with different yoga poses you can do each day. Aim to do the pose that goes along with day 1 on day 1 and then on day 2 do the poses from days 1 & 2 and add on so that by the end you are doing 30 different poses!
Post yoga I had a green smoothie with nuts on top and then headed to a shift and the pantry. (It’s vanilla shakeology with ice, almond milk, spinach.)
Green smoothies and yoga?!
I’m going to be a hippie and move to Morro Bay in no time! (Did I ever tell you that I talk about moving to Morro Bay all the time? I don’t know why or how it started but I’ve told a bunch of people that I’m going to retire there or move there and do yoga and open a bed & breakfast – the details vary a tiny bit depending on the day.)
I’m off to check out Groupon deals for yoga sessions! See you later!
I love Ekhart Yoga. They have a YouTube channel and Esther Ekhart has great warm ups, cool downs, and one overall great runner practice, especially if IT Band is an issue for you like it is for me from time to time. I would love to join your challenge! I just saw your post today, so I am starting today!
I’m in, starting on the 7th since I didn’t see this post before today. Love all the links to the YouTube videos!
I definitely laughed out loud when you said you wanted to do Yoga because of owning so many pairs of yoga pants and not been. I am literally sitting here in Yoga pants thinking the exact same!
oops!
http://www.wanderfreeblog.wordpress.com
xx
I always talk about wanting to be flexible and doing a handstand too, but then I HATE YOGA!!!! I mean, it feels GREAT…AFTER it’s over…but my gosh it’s so HARD! I’d much rather run 26.THREE! But ya, the benefits of yoga SEEM to be just grand…
I have a blogger/runner/yogi friend in The ‘Bus who has some great runners/stretchy yoga youtube videos – fit blonde yogi!
Short and sweet.
Hey, long time reader here! You MUST try Fiji’s videos on youtube! She’s amazing! When I was post injury and getting back to running two years ago, I did one of her videos after every run and I was amazed how great I felt and within a few weeks, felt so much stronger! Plus, her locations are beautiful. Here’s a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9ks2LFQ-XI
Here’s the post-run!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hf_u0AGdEA
Hey Monica! That’s so awesome! I did a 30 day yoga challenge in May and couldn’t believe how great it made my body feel. You should look up “Yoga with Adriene” on YouTube- she has two 30-day yoga series that you could follow and both are absolutely WONDERFUL! Keep us up-to-date on how it goes 🙂
I was just going to suggest Yoga with Adriene, she’s great!
A few people on Insta suggested her – yes! I did day 1 and love it already.
I should be stretching every day especially on help out with my back issues. I think I’ll go for option 3.
1) I think I’m going to do the yoga challenge with you. My goal is to shoot for yoga on the days I don’t run (3 days a week).
2) I LOVE MORRO BAY!!!! My aunt used to have a house over there and I would spend a week there every summer and pretend I was local. I totally plan on retiring there some day……some day….sigh….