
I want to start off this post to confirm I haven’t gone hippy on you all, I won’t be leaving the country to pursue a life in the Indian mountains, searching for the meaning of life. HOWEVER, I have started to fall in love with yoga and I wanted to talk about how that is.
I booked off a few days from work after months of no breaks (other than weekends and hospital appointments – I’m not a slave to my employer) and was feeling a bit burnt out. I’d been working on projects and wanted to make sure they’d all been implemented properly, as well as tying up some loose ends before sticking on my out of office (what a glorious feeling that is!)
A couple of weeks before, I was crying to Aaron about how I felt like shit, I couldn’t seem to chill out and was panicking/worrying about everything. Aaron, being his usual blunt self, told me that I should chill out and do some yoga.
And so I did.
I went onto Amazon and ordered myself a yoga mat that came to around £7 (including postage!) that same night – I wasn’t looking for anything fancy as quite frankly, I wouldn’t have a bloody clue what to look for anyway.
I needed to start looking after myself as I hadn’t been doing any kind of exercise since my seizure in May 2017 when I stopped running – I know it’s good for you both physically and mentally, which is exactly why I needed to give it a go. And even if I didn’t like yoga, I could use the mat for loads of other exercises too!
Once the mat arrived, I rolled it out and went straight onto YouTube to search for some beginner lessons I could watch for free from the comfort of my own home (with Aaron screaming bloody murder as he’s playing COD #playstationwidow) as I didn’t want to shell out money on classes if I wasn’t going to stick with it – we’re trying to save money after all and what good is having access to the internet if you don’t use all of the resources it provides?
It took me a while to find an instructor I could listen to and not feel nauseated by as there are A LOT of far too chipper yoga instructors with channels on YouTube – I was there to chill out, not having to watch the screen of my laptop like a hawk to understand what position I was going to need to get into next!
I tried a couple of different channels before I finally found some videos I could work to; Yoga with Adrienne is amazing and I think her 4 million + subscriber count can attest to how great she is, and Yoga Vidya has a wide array if calming voice-over style videos in multiple languages.
I hope you enjoy my face here
I’ve spent the last 2 weeks setting aside around 40 minutes almost every night to relax, roll the mat out and do some calming yoga – I can’t say that I’ve been able to do everything with ease as that would be a total lie. I’ve found that I have no upper body strength, my left leg is not flexible in the slightest and I click so much more than usual!
I’ve found the time concentrating on my breathing and poses to be the perfect opportunity for me to switch off from everything that’s happened in the day, I’m also adamant that I’m going to be able to bend in half without bending my legs one day, but baby steps!
Let me know in the comments if you’re an avid yogi (a term I’d never heard before and thought I’d misheard!) or what you do to chill the fuck out.
In the meantime, if you’re after some great beginner videos that I’ve been watching, make sure to check out these;
calming yogachilling out.de-stressinglearning to chill outyogayoga with adrienne
I have not tried yoga myself..not yet. I really want to give it a go one day as it seems to be incredibly calming and relaxing! xx
Much Love,
Elegant Duchess xx
https://www.elegantduchess.com/
I think it’s hard at first because you’re training yourself to stop your mind running at 100 miles an hour (I’m still trying!) but I do feel so much better after! ❤️
I’ve always wanted to commit to yoga, but i just cant calm my mind down enough to properly relax and engage in it. I definitely need to get across this hurdle and properly try it out though.
Great post!
Nat x | https://nataliehansonblog.wordpress.com/
Ahh definitely give it a go, I know it’s hard at first but so worth the chill you get in the end!
Thank you! ❤️
I am DESPERATE to try out some yoga! Once I’m feeling more physically able I am definitely going to be checking out these videos. I struggle so much to switch off and I feel like yoga is much like meditation which I have really enjoyed in the past. I’m also surprisingly flexible, I can very almost put my ankles behind my head! Also I absolutely cried at that photo of you, your face is SO cute and funny. I’d love some updates on how you’re getting on with this after a month or a few and if you go to classes, I’m really interested in yoga!!
Alice Xx
Ahh it’s a lot of fun and I’m also quite surprised at how bendy I am – there are certain points in the videos when they say “now, don’t worry if you can’t get your legs/arms/feet/any other body part here, because it’s ABSOLUTELY FINE” and I’m all bent up wondering what the hell they’re on about 😂😂 I’ll definitely check back after a while though! Just finished up a sesh so it’s still going which is promising 😉❤️❤️
Yoga is so good for you and I’m really glad you’re enjoying it! I stopped my classes a couple of month’s ago now and I really do need to get back into it xo
Char | http://www.charslittleblog.co.uk
I still haven’t bit the bullet and gone to an IRL class, but I’m just enjoying doing it at home tbh! ❤️