Yoga February: Week 2

/

Every month I’m picking one skill to practice everyday for a month and updating my progress every Monday. I call it Project Incremental. Read up on how it all got started. 

| - | - | - |

Really, we’re on week 2.25 of February, instead of Week 2, since this month just had to start on a Friday but lets not get caught up in technicalities. With the exception of this past weekend, which I took off from yoga to give myself a chance to recover, I’ve done yoga everyday this month - 9 days. Doesn’t sound like much much these little steps are combining into larger things.

Week2.jpg

For me, a daily yoga practice goes something like this:

  • Dig through the folder of links to youtube videos of various yoga flows
  • Move furniture out of the way so I can see my laptop screen from the floor
  • Consider vacuuming...eventually
  • Yoga!
  • Return furniture to it’s original starting position
  • Back to the daily grind

While the routine stays the same, timing varies. Sometimes I’ll start yoga when I wake up and sometimes in the afternoon after I’ve run errands. The actual yoga part of the routine can last 10 minutes or 40 minutes. Depends on my mood and how many other things are on my to-do list. I’ll also randomly add on extra stretching that focuses on my shoulders, arms, and wrists to prevent any knitting or spinning related mishaps.

Even after just 9 days of a daily yoga routine, I can already notice a difference. Yoga isn’t just about stretching or increasing flexibility and mobility though it certainly helps. Practicing yoga trains you to be more aware of your body and the way that you move. For example, I thought I was standing and sitting up straight. In reality, not so much. There were a few days of soreness as my back finally got with the program and stopped slouching.

Now that I’m experiencing yoga’s positive effects, I’m looking to learn more. I don’t want to be blindly dependent on youtube video or podcasts. The two can be great, helpful sources but I want to practice yoga somewhere where I don’t have to move furniture around, in places without wifi, where I don’t have to look up at a screen, or worry about following someone else’s pace. I want to learn the individual poses and the proper form. I want to move through my own flows. I want to be able to do a Sun Salutation all the way through without looking up what comes next. Looks like the rest of the month is going to be fun.