I did Yoga every day for a month & here’s what happened

About a month ago I woke up one morning and was suddenly faced with the harsh reality. Spring is coming. And after that, summer. And that meant: bikini's, shorts and a ton of exposion. Oh shoot. I looked down at my body and instantly regretted all the Fish&Chips and Shortbread I had been consuming ever since I set foot on Scottish soil. And it became clear to me: that soft extra layer of weight which had kept me so warm and cozy during winter had to disappear. I was on to something.

Yoga was originally only supposed to bring me back on track, a sort of “soft start” so to say, from which I could gradually add more intensity to my workouts. After only a couple of days, however, I realized that I actually enjoyed it and could already feel a change in my mood and body awareness. So I decided to set myself a goal: I wanted to see if I would be able to include a 15-20 minute session of Yoga into every single day for an entire month. It seemed easy enough at the time but soon enough I would start to face some challenges. But more about that later on.

Week 1:

Feeling motivated and ready to tackle this challenge. I usually do the workouts in the morning to get them out of the way, before taking a shower and having breakfast. I feel like that’s a great way to kickstart my day and awaken my mind and body, plus, I am more ready to work and tackle my to-do list.

As mentioned above, I mainly noticed psychological changes, rather than anything physical. I’m realistic enough to realize that such a short Yoga session wouldn’t slim my waist anytime soon but I also didn’t expect how productive it would make me feel all the same. Sometimes I felt so good about myself that I even squeezed in a second session before going to sleep or even right after when I felt like I had more energy that had to be released.

Week 2:

So far so good! I’ve been pushing through and can already tell that I feel much more balanced. I’m more relaxed, I see things more positively – whereas I’m usually a little pessimistic – and I feel at peace with myself. It actually surprises me that I’m saying this about myself because I’ve never really been the “spiritual” type and expressions like “finding my middle” and “breathing all the negativity out” have simply never been part of my daily vocabulary. But now they are! Weird. And I can’t shut up about it. In almost every conversation I’m having the word “Yoga” pops out of my mouth at least once! It’s already become a small part of my daily grind and it’s exciting.

I tried different Youtube videos and found myself returning to the channel BohoBeautiful because I simply love the variety and style of Juliana’s content. Also, she explains the single poses very well and speaks to you throughout the video, correcting your pose (it’s as if she can see right through the screen!) or motivating you to push on, reminding you of your breathing. On some days I would feel very exhausted and I’d opt for a relaxing stretching session whereas on other days I’d crush a full body Yoga blast. I can only recommend this channel to everyone, no matter if you’re a beginner or advanced yogi!

I’m starting to think that maybe this is not about the physical challenge and immediate results, but more about taking the time to go offline and at least trying. I love how mentally rewarding Yoga turned out to be in this aspect!

Week 3:

Week 3 is great because I’m already remembering poses and sequences, which gives me more opportunities to focus on the breathing which I wasn’t able to do in the previous days. I’m actually starting to look forward to Yoga and rolling out my mat to have some me-time actually makes me feel better about myself! My “Yoga” time has moved to the late afternoon/evening, in comparison to the first weeks, and it all simply depends on my ever changing schedule and routine. Now that Uni is over I simply have nothing regular going on in my life which can be nice but also annoying, if you know what I mean, haha! But the only thing that counts is that at least I still make time for it, right?

In my body I noticed that my back pain has worn off a little and that the muscles in my tummy and legs are more defined. I know right? I was really surprised too! I wouldn’t say I’ve particularly lost any weight but I feel more confident with my body which is amazing. I’m honestly so surprised of what a difference a few weeks of only 15 minutes Yoga can already make and am super excited for the next weeks. Yay!

I’m especially proud that even after a late night out with friends at a restaurant and a theatre play later on, I still rolled out my mat at midnight and allowed my muscles to relax and get ready for a good night’s sleep. Can this girl please get a round of applause? Even just a small one? Thank you. 😉

Week 4:

The weeks have literally flown by and I feel awesome. First of all because I stuck to the challenge and feel accomplished; and second, Yoga definitely had a huge positive impact on me.

I’m not going to lie. There have been days, especially later in the challenge where I felt unmotivated and also couldn’t seem to find the time in every single day. But we all know very well how big of a lie that is. Everyone of us has at least 15 bloody minutes in our days which we can set aside to actually do something for ourselves. I admit, I had to push myself multiple times and multiple times these 15 minutes just seemed to never end. I remember looking at the video time count (more than once) and sighing (also more than once) when I saw I’m not even halfway through… But guess what: afterwards I was always super proud that I did it. Not even once did I think “gee, I really wish I hadn’t done Yoga today”. Yeah, I’m sure you get how stupid that sounds. 😉

Anyway, the most important thing is: I DID IT! *yaaaay*

And will I keep on doing Yoga? You betcha! Maybe not every single day but definitely as often as I can!