Yoga Everyday: A One Month Journey

I've started to mindfully attempt to build routines in my life. This past year, I have been through a lot of really positive changes. However, there comes a point when even someone who enjoys change will need some sort of routine. One area that I have been focusing on is my physical routine.

There is something about yoga that is different than other physical exercises. Yoga is a workout for the mind and the body. Yoga is a great way to balance the physical exertion from running. A common misconception is that yoga is not strenuous, when in fact it can be quite difficult.

I am an avid home-practice yogi. I found a yoga DVDs as a kid and since then I have been practicing yoga on and off, at home and in the group setting, since middle school. I tend to do a lot of YouTube yoga.

My home practice space includes my well-worn, frugal yoga mat and my iPad. 

Home practice essentials: All you really need is an area to practice. You don't actually need a yoga mat and you can even practice with a book that lists poses, but it's helpful to have a device to follow a yoga teacher.

I stumbled upon Yoga with Adriene a couple years ago. Adriene records absolutely free 30-day sequences along with other videos. I promise Adriene does not pay me to put in this plug for her YouTube channel nor does she even know who I am. Yet, I have been doing yoga with this goofy, fun-loving, Texas yoga teacher for a couple years now. O, the power of the internet!

Prior to my one-month yoga journey, I had completed 3 rounds of 30 days of yoga with Adriene prior to True, but each took me about 3 months to complete. I was practicing about 3-4 times per week. This time, I wanted to try to complete all 30 days within a month. I started the True sequence on May 1st.

The first couple weeks, I was on point. I got up each morning and completed my practice before heading off to work or starting my day. Then, I started to procrastinate. I would complete some sessions at 8pm. I am an early bird and I have learned that if I want to commit to doing something, I have to get it done first thing in the morning. In the morning, I am full of willpower. In the evening, I fight to stay awake until my 9pm bedtime.

Over halfway through, I did something that I've never been able to do-- I successfully nailed a chaturanga. A chaturanga is basically a slow push-up into a belly toward the ground backbend. Basically, hell for anyone with a lack of upper body strength. I had been doing half-ass chaturangas for years! Clearly, I was starting to build some sort of upper body strength.

On day 20, I did a half marathon. I still practiced yoga that day. Yes, I was still running during my one-month yoga journey. That's me doing my thing though. If you're thinking about trying a routine, I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to do a routine that isn't true to their own thing. Anyways, on day 21, the day after the half marathon, I was spent. I did about 5 minutes of the video and decided that May has 31 so it would be okay to complete the yoga journey in 31 days instead of 30 days. Set goals, yet still be flexible-- which is a good lesson that I've also learned from practicing yoga.

On the last day of every 30-day sequence with Adriene, you have the opportunity to practice your own yoga routine. It's always a really fun day, but in the past 3 times that I had done it, I mostly watched the video and followed Adriene's movements. This time, I mostly did my own thing this time and looked at the video only to get ideas for poses I might enjoy. I feel like I'm getting more confident in my ability to choose yoga poses that feel right to my own body. Win!





I enjoyed doing a month of yoga. The physical benefits were great. I will probably do it again in the future, but I'm learning that commanding myself to do something every single day may not be the route that I'd like to take. I can benefit from routines, but I also want to learn to take it easy. Life is a journey, and I don't want to miss all the fun getting to the next checkpoint.

Friendships and Adulting

To the friends that I have kept in my 20's, thank you.


The twenty-something years seem to be a mess of trying to figure out how to adult. You are able to fully choose whether or not you'd like to go to school, start a career, start a family, where you'd like to live, how to allocate your time, and more. You start to learn who you are as a person beyond your family's roots, values, and opinions.


Being in your twenties is a great time, but it's a time when people must learn to balance their own lives. No one will tell you to come home early, eat at a certain time, wake up on time, or avoid people or places that are undeserving. As a twenty-something, you are able to eat dessert for dinner, stay up until 3 am then work at 9 am, buy the frivolous car, run your credit cards up to absurd amounts, and stop taking care of yourself. However, you learn that it all comes with a price. You can't perform at your best without sleep, adequate nutrition, and free time. You miss your college assignments, you fail. You skip work, you don't get paid. You miss talking to friends, you lose your social connections.


Some people spend too much time focusing on their personal life. Others spend too much time focusing on their professional lives. I was in the second group. I spent the majority of my twenty-something years trying to find the perfect career. Luckily, it wasn't a fruitless effort and it has truly paid off. Nevertheless, I made some difficult decisions to focus on my professional life at the expensive of my personal life. I choose degrees over connections.


For a while, I started to believe that I didn't deserve to have friends. That it wasn't possible to have a social life while going to school, working multiple jobs, and building a career. It's easy to get into the mindset that there is no reason to do anything besides work and sleep. I believe that socializing was a luxury that I did not have the ability to juggle. That is a lonesome place.


My friends are juggling the same activities that I'm juggling and in most cases much, much more. Some work multiple jobs, raise kids, maintain close ties with their families, manage a household, and pursue higher education.





However, I have some real ride-or-die friends. That's why I'm so thankful for them. Fabulous people have stuck by me and believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. They have endured canceled plans at the last moment and text messages with a 3 day lag time. Yet, they still invite me to lunch. They still care. That is a beautiful part of life-- to be surrounded by people that care.








I'm a firm believer in the idea that your experiences make you who you are. Make it a point to check in with friends and to be understanding of their struggles. I think I was meant to learn that I can not judge a person if they have to cancel plans for the 5th time in a row. If I don't hear from a friend, I know it's probably not personal. In fact, it's my duty to give that person a call or text message to check on them. They might need me to listen and I can't be hung up waiting for them to connect with me.


And maybe I don't deserve my friends, but damn I appreciate them.