I Tried Yoga For 30 Days — This is What Happened
The first time I tried yoga was during a P90X challenge. I was sixteen years old.
For those who have no idea what P90X is: a fitness dude named Tony Horton created a signature 90-day workout program called P90X and it was a big hit in the early 2000s. So naturally, I wanted to try it.
Of the series of workouts, one of them was a yoga recovery session. Before the workout began, Horton appeared on the screen and I remember him saying “I’m able to live my life in the best shape possible not because I can do a bunch of push-ups, but because I do yoga.”
The thought of yoga being something that would be life-changing to your body and mind never occurred to me. But after the yoga workout, I remember feeling great.
I barely broke a sweat but for some reason, I felt so great and I wanted more. That is when I began to embrace the world of yoga.
While I’ve been on and off the mat for several years, I have never taken the time to devote myself to my yoga practice. There’s always something in the way that derails any consistency whether that is work or mom life.
However this time around, I decided to commit to my practice for 30 days straight and start a yoga challenge to see if a daily yoga practice can make a difference in health and wellness.
I began this yoga experiment by going through CENTER — 30-Day Yoga Journey by Yoga with Adriene which is available on YouTube. This is what I found:
Week 1:
Naturally, I was super pumped about the challenge and did my yoga routine during the day.
Some of the poses I knew already but the sequences and flow of the yoga sessions felt great. I felt myself wanting to push my body more thinking that I could keep going but knew that was my ego talking and I needed to pace myself.
This week made me feel more aware of my body, and my posture throughout the day, and even incorporated small yoga stretches throughout the day.
Week 2:
This week I found myself having to force myself to get on the mat.
Although I was tired from work, I knew that once I got on the mat that things will fall into place. On the days that I wasn’t able to do yoga due to work or mom stuff, I found myself feeling irritable.
I would have two sessions a day to make up the time. All that mattered was me completing a session because I knew the moment I got on the mat, I was going to feel amazing and I always did.
Week 3:
This week I made it my intention to set a time of day in order to complete a yoga session that way I wouldn’t have to make up any sessions.
I schedule my yoga session at the end of the day when my son went to bed and considered yoga my winddown time before I went to bed. After I got back into the rhythm, I realized that setting a time on my calendar for exercise or yoga actually made things better as I was able to plan out my days more efficiently.
This is when I realized that I was incorporating yoga into my daily routine. And I also noticed the poses started to feel great and I noticed I was more flexible than in Week 2.
Week 4:
In the last week, I was more focused on my breathing. I could feel my body becoming more comfortable with every posture but I also took notice of my breath and made sure that I was breathing through every pose and position.
I started to see yoga as another version of “me time” during my night/bedtime routine. I also started to incorporate yoga stretched not just at night but during the day and my son is starting to love it.
My son started to climb on top of me while I was on the mat and mimic some of the poses which made my heart burst with joy. I love how I could use this as another play session with my son while also getting a nice workout/stretch in.
Conclusion:
After a month of consistent yoga, my body and mind feel wonderful. Getting on the mat was the hardest part but once I started, I never regretted it and always loved the end result.
I loved the fact that I was able to have my yoga sessions at night which helped me calm down my body and mind for bed. Normally I would scroll through social media on my phone or watch something on Netflix before bed but this new habit was way better because of the results I saw.
I was sleeping deeper, didn’t feel any aches throughout the day from my normal workout regimen, and I started to feel more present during the day. This challenge made me realize that you don’t need a lot of equipment to get a workout in — just a mat and your body weight.
I also loved how I started to incorporate yoga poses throughout the day and that my son loved them. It made me realize just how much children are watching their parents for guidance and ways of living.
I try my best to live a healthy lifestyle in the best way I can not just for me, but for my family. And as a parent, I’m realizing that it’s not what we say that created an impact, it’s what we do.
If you need any type of motivation to get started on a challenge or a workout routine, make sure you aren’t just doing it for yourself but for your loved one. Living a healthy lifestyle will show them that not only is it doable and good for you, but it can also be fun!
Kimberly Delarosa is a freelance writer and essayist based in New York. For more information, visit www.kimberlydelarosa.com and sign up for the newsletter.
