Hello, beautiful people! I hope that your guys’ week has gone amazing! Today I am here to update you all on my yoga journey during week 2. If you haven’t read my week 1 blog post I recommend that you do just so that you are up to date! But if you are new, then a little update: At the beginning of the New Year, I set one of my goals to doing yoga at least 3-5 times a week and since 2020, I have been doing yoga every day with the help of Yoga With Adriene’s YouTube channel by using her new 30-day yoga journey called HOME.

In my last post, I talked all about my past with yoga and my intentions for setting out on this journey. I talked about how in week one of doing yoga I felt very fidgety and unfocused and how I truly wasn’t “buying in” to the practice because of that lack of concentration and dedication to the mind. I talked about being very sore and tight in the muscles and that I kept experiencing a trembling sensation when I would go into some poses. Lastly, I talked about my breathing and how inconsistent it was throughout each day. With all of those topics covered, I plan on giving you an inside look on how all of these factors have grown throughout the journey thus far.

While not much has changed drastically, there have still been minor changes throughout my practice:

Very fidgety and unfocused: In week one, this was such a struggle for me. I was always thinking about something else and truly was not focusing on the current moment. But! This got so much better and I’m very happy about it! Yoga this week didn’t feel like a chore whatsoever. In fact, I really needed it when I was feeling strong emotions. It really gave me a chance to stop everything and focus on how I felt and gave me the time to resolve those feelings and to come up with solutions to problems without reacting instantly in a negative way. I really appreciated that time that was given to me through yoga.

Sore and not really as flexible as I thought: I will say that yes, touching my toes still brings a little heat as well as a downward-facing dog but I can ease into those poses a lot easier now. I have noticed that I don’t need to bend my knees as much in those positions and the pain truly isn’t that bad anymore. Actually, I’ve kind of learned to like it… But truly, I can already see a shift in becoming more flexible.

Not “buying in” to the practice yet: I am definitely not sure if this is something I can keep up with for the rest of my life but, I do wish that that is possible because of the effects that yoga has already started to take on my life. It not only makes me feel good about doing some sort of small exercise routine in my day-to-day life but also gives me a chance to slow down and think about my day, what I want for my life, and helps me to get through problems or minor roadblocks. I think it is a good way to help with hard emotions and you feel good after; you feel proud! It truly gives you encouragement for your day as long as you lead with an open mind and show up on the mat.

My breathing: Since I pointed this out in my last blog post, I definitely became aware of it in my practice. There still are times when I am focused on how to do a certain pose or am truly just not thinking about it but I try to maintain my breathing as consistently as possible. I did notice this week, that I am unable to take in a super deep breath. I find it hard to slow down my breathing and am stuck in a rut of short, consistent breaths. So next week I plan on experimenting with that throughout the practice.

A trembling sensation: I no longer shake with some of the easier poses or even in a plank position but I will shake if I am doing anything ab related or poses that are just a little bit harder than the typical ones we do. But it really does depend on how long a pose is being held out.

New Discoveries:

• I find that my posture is getting better and it is becoming easier to sit up in practice.
• With my scoliosis, the poses help stretch the parts of my back that help but throughout the day I still notice pain in my back, so yoga hasn’t done much for me there, yet.
• The knots in my shoulders have gone down.
• My hips are very tight and some poses create tension on my tailbone.
• I get excited to do yoga!
• and My sense of balance is slowly getting better.

Don’t forget that you can always join in on this journey as well and if you do do it, I would love to hear about how you feel you have improved throughout it! Thank you for reading and have a happy Friday!

Lots of love and Namaste,

Laurel ❤

30-day yoga journey, HOME: https://youtu.be/-rfdpf3aeGM

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