Every Sunday I take my time writing these posts and it is one of my most exciting times to be with you, my readers. I find so much joy in tracking this journey we are on together. Perhaps you have been reading, “A Sensational Yoga Adventure” and following along. Perhaps you are just now jumping it. The journey has been real, it has been fun, and it has been memorable but lucky for all of us – it is not over yet. Everyone channel their yoga happy dance now.
Check out my other posts here: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, & Chapter 3
I’m pretty sure that Adriene has been my every other word the past month and I’m okay with that. I may even have resorted to calling her ‘A’ and I feel no shame in that. Let me be honest here, I have watched other yoga instructions and yikes. Not that they are bad yogis because they are amazing yogis – it is that I don’t seem to connect with them like I have with Adriene. Did you know their are facebook groups, community groups, and 147k posts on instagram (right now) with #yogawithadriene in them?
Adriene has such a following and I am so impressed. She really does know how to teach. She makes every video special for you and your body. Dare I say it? Yes I should. She helps you ‘Find What Feels Good’. If you know ANYTHING at all about her you will know that, that is her phrase and it is perfect. A has every video for all types of things. I just found out she has a Yoga For Your Birthday video. I am so unbelievably sad that I was not able to do that one on my actual birthday this past July but you bet your bottom dollar I will be doing that in 2019.
Some Really Cool Updates:
- Adriene has liked two of my Instagram posts & 1 Twitter post
- yes, I am marking all of my wins here because she has hundreds of thousands of followers 🙂
- I have been accepted into the FWFG (Find What Feels Good) Kula Community
- This is a community that yogis can go and connect with other yogis. Learn, Grow and bond with people we also like to do yoga. Why didn’t I see this earlier?
- I am absolutely loving my new mat & new blocks that I got for an inexpensive price on Amazon. Check them out here: this Yoga Mat
and these Yoga Blocks
- I purchased some pretty awesome active wear from Old Navy recently (see cover photo outfit)
- They have amazing, comfortable, and affordable clothes for doing yoga. I even was able to get it 50% off on Saturday lucky timing I guess 🙂
and these 
Pre-Yoga Practice Continuation & Updates
I recently tried something new for my pre-practice routine. A lot of times on the weekdays when my alarm goes off I jump (or crawl) out of bed quite quickly because I need to make sure that I have plenty of time to: do yoga, shower, get ready, have breakfast, make my lunch for the day, and then head to work. Often times I find that when I do this routine there isn’t enough time to wake up and warm up your body before the practice begins. Adriene does a good job of easing you into the day but even still I find myself very stiff.
This time, I tried to do some stretches in bed and try to calmly arise so that maybe when I start the practice video I can feel a little bit more limber and ‘warmed up’. It really showed a difference when I did this before my practice with Adriene. I found myself much more aware of really opening up my body to new areas of movement. Tip: Try it both ways and see how your body reacts. You might find something new that makes your body enjoy the practice more!
Overall Week 4 [And Week 1,2,3] Yoga Impressions
- This week there were a few days that did not consist of my normal routine
- I’m sure this is an every day problem for several of you especially if you don’t have a consistent work schedule, have kids, or just don’t like routines. For me, I strive for routine. Once I get into a rhythm it is hard for me to stop or change. Now, that isn’t to say that I can’t do change. I just enjoy being able to know what I can expect my day to look like. A plan so to speak.
- Every time I do yoga, I feel like everything in me is getting stronger. Then I do Warrior 2 and that all goes right out the window.
- Is it just me or is ‘doing freestyle’ hard when Adriene isn’t doing it with you?
- uh, then that isn’t freestyle. Okay. So I don’t like being free of A right now. Perhaps in 60 days…
Changing it up
This week I ended up starting a two-a-day yoga practice. Lately, I’ve been frustrated with my abdominal section because of obvious reasons as well as the fact that I know a lot of strength for future poses come from having a great deal of strength in your core. That being said, I decided to take on doing A’s 14 min ab video or her Day 6 practice video.
The idea is that I would either do the 30-day practice video like normal (in the morning) then after I came home from work before dinner I would hit up her ab video. On days I did not work, I was able to do her 30 day practice routine first then jump right into her ab routine.
My feeling of wanting more could either be because I am eager to perfect certain poses or it could be because I didn’t feel fulfilled; almost like I need a longer practice to feel like I got a good workout in. Recently, I inquired on one of YWA (Yoga With Adriene’s) Facebook pages wondering how long people practice for. Most of the people in the community said 30 minutes. However, some said an hour or even longer! With that information, I do feel that I am right in line with either just doing A’s 30-day video or including the ab routine. I’ve decided, I will do the ab routine if I feel like it feels good to enhance my practice that day with some core moves.
Blog Post Changes
Normally, this is the point in my post that I would talk about the poses that were hard or not-so hard for me in this past week but I want to switch some things up this week by talking about my body and mind.
If you have been reading my chapters at all you will notice that there are several poses that have been difficult for me due to my flexibility or balance not being so great. However, I don’t talk a lot about my body from the inside or how it is changing due to starting the yoga practice. As you know may know, I’ve also started a journey for eating healthier which you can check out here: The Unhealthy Truth About Changing Your Eating Habits. Which means, I have been eating better as well as starting the yoga practice. Kind of a double duty here. Here are some details how my body has changed due to yoga (and potentially eating healthier)…
Body Changes
The first picture is me at the Bahamas in late April. The Second is of me two weekends ago.
I’ve always been very self conscious about my thighs and my abdominal area. Everyone is self-conscious about something in their life whether it be their body, their work, or what they like or dislike. For me, It is all of them. lol. I’ll get to that during a different post. Today – I open up to you about my physical. The problem is, I love eating junk food, hate vegetables, and I cannot stand running. Luckily, I have found Yoga. Yoga is the perfect way to get in a good exercise and feel good about it.
- I’ve lost 10 pounds through eating better & doing Yoga
- I don’t hate water as much as I used too
- Every day I do yoga I feel my legs getting stronger & my core slowly strengthening
- I am starting not to want any junk foods anymore
- I have such a strong motivation to get better at yoga that I don’t want to ruin it by feeding myself junk food – is that called growing up? Weird.
I’d more so like to talk to you about what Yoga is doing for my mind.
Mind Changes
If you do yoga or know one thing about yoga it is this: Yoga is less about how it physically changes you but more so how it changes who you are to yourself. I have seen the most changes throughout doing my morning practices with Adriene in my attitude towards life and how I feel about myself. To be 100% transparent, I started yoga on a day that I had off from my 3 jobs I was in and I told myself that this was what was going to change my life. For a while, I suffered from severe migraines that caused me to be bed ridden for full days straight. Let me tell you – it wasn’t great.
On top of my severe migraines, I was also going through some issues that had to do with my work life in which I couldn’t figure out what I wanted in life which is a whole can of worms that I’ll have to create another journey talking about.
Further Reflections
Honestly, I never thought that yoga was going to do anything for me. I figured it was an easier version of a workout program and I could do at home. It looked cool and I told myself, ‘I’m flexible, this will be easy’. I’m amazed at how wrong I was. Yoga is not easy and you don’t necessarily have to be flexible in the beginning because I’ve found that I’m not flexible at all right now. Here are some points that I’ve come across of how yoga has changed my mind.
- I find myself breathing deeply when I’m just sitting at my desk at work.
- could this be because work is stressing me out? Sure. Is breathing helping? 100%
- When I feel like I’m tense in my mind or in by body I find that it is always in my fists or my shoulders
- 90% of the time while doing A’s videos, she tells you – relax your shoulders or push your shoulders away from your ears and immediately a weight gets lifted
- I find myself more relaxed in stressful situations -or- at least finding a way to get away from that stress because I’ve noticed a difference in being stressed and being calm and happy. I choose the ladder
- Every day is yoga day. I am always thinking about yoga – how I can improve and what more can I learn about it
- when I wake up – the first thing I say to my husband is – YOGA TIME. And joyfully after I’m finished, he always asks ‘How was yoga, what did you do today?’ I Love Him <3
- Whenever I am in a moment of stress – I tend to sit back and think… what is the bigger picture?
- Yoga has helped me essentially push away negative vibes and enhance all things great
- I don’t yell at my computer nearly as often as I used to. 😉
Some things that haven’t changed… [yet]
- I still get minor headaches but – I have a feeling that has to do with my eating habits
- My flexibility is still pretty horrible
- From time to time I get some stomach pains that I have yet to figure out where they are coming from.
- One of my practices this week I had a heard time doing some of it because there was pressure coming from my upper ab below my left breast was is severe pain for particular positions.
- After the practice, I was walking around the apartment my heart was skipping beats and it caused for difficulty breathing. – It didn’t last long though.
- The frustration for improvement still lingers.
Now, like I mentioned above – yoga is about how it helps improve the way you look at life not the way you physically look. However, ain’t nobody gunna be angry about getting some abs in the process. I just wanted to shed light on how this practice has improved my mind and my body these past several weeks and how it can improve yours too [if that is what you truly desire]. The yoga community is such an amazing group to be apart of and I am so happy that I am able to motivate myself every morning to get onto my mat.
The pure level of determination to complete my yoga practice and to start the day off right is one of the reasons I wake up every morning. My other reason is coffee. 😉
If you feel the way that I do or have similar reactions to yoga, please take a moment to comment below. Let’s talk and join together in this journey we have created for each others’ wellness. And, as always, thank you Adriene for being an amazing teacher for the yoga practice; you truly make it very enjoyable.
Until next week my yogi friends,
Very nice work. Good to see things are changing for the better for you