The 30 Day Yoga Challenge
Are you well? It is a straightforward enough question, but you would probably agree you could do with a little less stress, to eat a little healthier, to do a little more exercise. I certainly can.
With this Thursday 21st June being International Yoga Day, it feels like the right time to start a 30 Day Yoga Challenge.
I was initially drawn to yoga in my early 20s with the intention of improving my fitness. No doubt a heart pounding 90 minute Ashtanga or Bikram class ticked this box. It has always been my go to exercise for improving my core strength, weight bearing and flexibility. I liked the acrobatic contortionist challenge. Later I learned about the mental benefits of yoga when I was undertaking my yoga teacher training — a whole new world. Yoga is scientifically proven to improve your mental health as well as physical — Yoga, as like most forms of exercise — taps into your endocrine system which helps regulate many body functions, including your MOOD.
Yoga is essentially a preventative medicine, and you need it even when you don’t need it.
Then life got busy, I was working in an office full time, planning a wedding, setting up a home and having children. I stopped teaching yoga — I felt uninspired and simply did not think I was a good teacher. I missed doing yoga. I fell off the yoga wagon for a number of years and slipped into complacency. I experienced a significant amount of stress and anxiety after having children, and since returning to work my excuses for not exercising have been mounting up — not enough time, too tired, too stressed. Counterintuitively, yoga gives you these things back.
My hope is that by practicing even a small act of yoga every day I’m going to rebuild my yoga habit.
I challenge YOU dear readers to pick a small, daily change to improve your wellness.
Maybe you’d like to follow me on my Yoga Challenge. Or, here are some other ideas, things I’m keen to explore in future blogs.
- Vegan / Plant based diet
- Mindfulness and Meditation
- Work Life Balance
- Community and sustainability — wellness outside of ourselves and doing good for others
- Me Time — personal wellness
Let me know how you go, and please follow me on my journey.
Namaste! #smallactsofwellness
