For about four years now, I have been following a yoga instructor on YouTube. Her channel, Yoga with Adriene, posts new yoga videos every week. And for the past few years, every January, Adriene creates a 30 day continuous yoga challenge to start the year off right. I suppose I shouldn't say challenge because it isn't, or at least it shouldn't be. The most challenging point I guess is to carve the time out of your day to complete the video. The best part of this 30 day yoga routine is of course Adriene. She's an excellent teacher, and supports all types of levels. She's also an incredibly positive and wise lifeforce.
The reason why I started yoga was really just because I had lower back pain. I think for most of my life I had bad posture, and then when I was teaching I would sit down for hours every day. The table was too low, and I ended up slouched off. This coupled with not exercising meant that my back just gave in. After one painful evening, it has continued to ache for years. I joined a gym without really knowing what I was doing. I realised how weak I was. One of the instructors recommended joining her power yoga class. I had never really tried yoga before, and assumed you needed to be really flexible to even participate. I realise now how people's perceptions of what yoga is and what it actually is, is actually really different.
For the longest time, I was an incredibly negative person. I wasn't happy, I didn't feel good about myself, and I was completely out of shape. I've always been thin, but not healthy. After practicing yoga and challenging myself to do new things, I’ve found that I’ve become a much more positive person and I’m much happier. Of course life has its ups and downs, but I found something to ride the waves.