How I (Finally) Achieved a Daily Yoga Practice

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I have done yoga every day so far this year! It sounds good when I write it that way. : )

Or how about - I've done yoga for 62 consecutive days!

Here's the kicker. It's been easy. Effortless. A pleasure.

It has also been a long time coming. During that time I have practised in a lot of different settings. With books and videos. Classes at the gym. Classes at the community centre. Hot yoga classes. I've done yoga in hotel rooms. At the beach. In a swimming pool. With knitting needles. On a chair.

I've tried intense, very disciplined approaches to yoga. I've tried gentle versions. I've practised yogilates. I've done yoga high. A lot.

Nothing stuck. Sooner or later I'd loose my groove, fall off the apple cart, and wake up one morning, sore and depressed and realize I hadn't rolled out my mat in a month. And begin again.

Understand that I am not saying that you have to practice yoga daily. Yoga is good whenever you practise and we all approach it for our own reasons. For me, a daily practice helps me to be the person I want to be - a stronger, calmer person who is more open to life.

Which brings me to the present. After two months of daily yoga sessions, I feel generally amazing, have visible muscles that weren't there before, deal more capably with difficult situations and I've lost weight. I like myself more.

So what has made this possible? Yoga With Adriene is creating monthly playlists of her yoga videos, supplemented with a new video every Sunday. I can roll out my mat, select the video recommended for that day and begin. There is lots of room within her videos to consider what your particular body needs and she encourages paying attention to that.

For some reason, being led in practice helps me and, to be honest, my ego struggles with that. The Type A me wants to be Kino MacGregor lifting masterfully up into handstand between Downward Dog and Forward Fold as I gracefully execute the Primary Ashtanga Series. I've let that go, though, because this is so clearly the right thing for me right now.

One of these days, I am not going to do yoga. When that happens, I will have to recognize that only my ego is attached to the idea of practice everyday. Missing a day doesn't mean the whole thing is over.

Now, about Yoga With Adriene. Why her? I could try to tell you. But why don't you see for yourself?

Do this video. The one below. Just do it. It is approachable for a variety of fitness and experience levels and it is soooo soothing.

Please try it. No disaster required. And if you do, tell us about your experience below.

Happy Saturday, Steemians. Let's create some good juju today.