I’m challenging myself to do yoga* every day in November.
Many of the writers here at Fit is a Feminist Issue are already very fit and have a consistent fitness routine but I’m not quite there yet.
I am moderately fit and I can keep up at Taekwondo but my commitment to consistent, regular movement varies. I am still working toward the point where daily exercise is an automatic part of my day.
I may not be consistent (yet) but I am PERsistent and that brings us to today’s post.
As much as I had hoped to be very fitness-focused these past two months, I have ended up doing bits and pieces of exercise all over the place. A few pushups here, a walk there, some yoga one morning, my Taekwondo patterns another. I’ve attended TKD classes but I have had to miss a few.
I’m okay with all of that , I have been juggling a lot of things and had a lot of pop-up tasks and it won’t help things if I start being mean to myself about not managing to get more exercise in.
I don’t enjoy this haphazard approach though.
It’s ‘good enough’ but it doesn’t increase my feeling of well-being very much.
I end up feeling kind of scattered. Not a feeling I enjoy.
I want some consistency. I want more physical ease. I want more fun.
And THAT brings me to daily yoga.
Just me and my mat, at home, every day.
I want to do other movement, too, of course, but yoga is the right answer for right now.
a) I like short term project commitments (a month of something feels do-able for me).
b) I find it easier to do something every day than every once in a while.
c) I don’t need to be wearing something specific to do yoga.
d) I can do yoga first thing in the morning without waking anyone else up.
e) I can do it right before bed without waking myself up.
f) And, most importantly, it doesn’t just feel do-able or manageable, it feels necessary. I WANT to do yoga daily.
Of course, going from no specific practice to a daily practice will be challenging, I know that.
That’s why I’m keeping my expectations low.
7 minutes** or 7 poses. Every day.
Care to join me?
*I’d like to acknowledge here that my measurement of whether or not I have ‘done’ yoga for the day will be if I have done asanas, the physical aspect of a yoga practice. I am working to develop my practice in all 8 limbs of yoga but that does not lend itself to measurement or to public discussion. I just want to be clear that I understand that yoga is more than stretching on a mat.
**My choice of 7 minutes comes from two things. 1) I like the number 7 and 2) Kara Leah Grant’s book Forty Days of Yoga. https://theyogalunchbox.co.nz/forty-days-of-yoga-breaking-down-the-barriers-to-a-home-yoga-practice/
I will join you! I’m aiming for 20 minutes because I’m dealing with some knee and hip weirdness and that long a practice keeps me in my body more fully and I’m kinder to it the rest of the time. Xxc
Yay! I’m glad for the company!
I will probably do longer practices most days, I just like to establish a minimum for days when things go sideways.
I would love to join in.
I practice most days. And I believe I encoroprate all the limbs of yoga into my life all the time. Because as a life philosophy it calls to me deeply. Like an old memory.
But my physical practice could use a little home boost. 7 minutes seems doable!
When are you starting? Today?
Anne
I was going to start on November 1 but I could really use a short practice today so let’s go for it!
Glad to have your company!
Ok
I’ll make 7 minutes tonight for 7 poses. I like the idea of holding a pose for a minute.
Then tomorrow I will get up 10 minutes early. I have fallen out of my morning routine. This will motivate me!
Go Team Us!
I’m glad you asked about this today. I may not have taken this badly needed 7 minutes otherwise.
Thank you. 💚
I got up this morning and did my 7 poses.
This was the boost I needed to not press snooze one more time!
Yay anne! yay christine!
Hey everyone– I’m in! I’ve been doing yoga several times a week, but haven’t had the oomph to get on my mat every day. And I know I feel better, happier, more powerful, more everything when I do this. The 7 poses idea is great; 7 is a lovely number. I’ll probably do more, but even 7 will count. Yesss!
By the way, legs in the air is now my new favorite restorative pose; I like it even better than legs up the wall. I put a block under my sacrum and lift my legs in the air, and they rest there very relaxedly for however long I want to stay. I admit I love love love inversions, and it helps my ankle feel better, as well as reduce the swelling from my recent DVT. I can even do some ankle exercises from this position.
Thanks so much Christine, for suggesting this!
Hi Cristine, I am delighted to have come across your blog about Yoga. Really very insightful writing you have here. As a Yoga instructor myself, I have recently started sharing my experiences with Yoga and Meditation on http://www.ashmayuyoga.com . Hope it helps your readers. Thank you.