👾HeyDayle

#YogaChallenge Day 30! | What I learned from doing Yoga every day for 30 days straight!

December 30, 2017dayleeo

Well well well! That’s a wrap friends! WE MADE IT! CHALLENGE COMPLETE! In some ways this challenge absolutely flew by, I feel like I was just telling you all about days 5 and 6 just a day or so ago. But in other ways, it’s felt like an absolute eternity.

I’m glad I did it, but I’m also glad I’m done.

I’m planning a larger post based on @saramiller ’s prompt about what yoga has meant to you in the very near future, but I wanted to take a moment to recap the things I’ve learned and the ways I’ve grown in the past 30 days doing a daily yoga challenge that was both above my skill and fitness level.

1. Not every day has to FEEL amazing.

one of my favorite quotes from what in my opinion is one of the foremost philosophical books of our age “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” says…

Maybe this whole book needs a full in-depth analysis because it really is one of my favorites ever… sometimes you won’t feel awesome, energised, amazing, or even half as coordinated as you do on good days, and that’s ok!

Whichever version of yourself showed up on the mat that day is getting the benefits if your practice, and they may need it more than you realize!

2. Sometimes you’ll surprise yourself!

There were days in this challenge that I started my practice with a, there’s NO SHOT I’ll be finishing this class. And guess what, I did! Wether it was me doubting my abilities, or being intimidated by the kind of classification of the practice, I started with negativity that really didn’t serve me. Because really, what’s the worst that could happen? it IS too hard?

Maybe I was trying to prep myself for the disappointment of not being able to do something I thought I should be able to, but once I got rid of that guilt and self punishment I didn’t need to brace myself for failure, because the only failure became not showing up. If I tried and knew I really gave it my best i had already won, which meant there was no need to dread any class… Which brings me to my last lesson…

3. You’ll only feel as good about your progress as you allow yourself

Doing this challenge here with @teamhumble really allowed me to see something I had never noticed in the 3 other yoga challenges I had done this year.

I’m INCREDIBLY self critical.

It’s not that I hadn’t noticed that about myself already, but in Yoga especially… maybe part of why I feared some classes, and was so discouraged when I couldn’t finish a whole class, or struggled, is that a part of me knew I was about to face the Judge Jury and Executioner of Dayleeo after my practice.

Even when I had a good practice, @teamhumble would ask me how it went, and the first thing I mentioned, is what I couldn’t do, or what was too hard, what I’m bad at.

I guess I never noticed that destructive self talk until I started saying it out loud. But recognizing how downright mean I was being to myself, allowed me to CHOOSE to be at peace with whatever my performance would be for that day, and that made ALL the difference in me being able to finish this challenge when I really really didn’t want to.

+ Deep thoughts?

I guess this whole post was deep thoughts, but I will say that other than the emotional, self esteem and mental clarity gains, I feel really good physically.

There was a lot of celebratory snacking and a bit of drinking that went on this month, but I feel DAMN good even despite that! Keeping moving not only has kept me limber, flexible and out of my usual back and neck pain, it’s allowed me to feel more at home in my body. I’ve got better balance and much more endurance for long walks and bursts of energy when needed.

I haven’t weighed in because I don’t have access to a scale at the moment but I’m pretty sure I’ve even lost a bit around my waistline in the process.

I’m stronger, more energetic and much more loose. It feels good to feel the way our bodies were built to feel.

THANK YOU!

If you’ve read my progress posts, and left a comment, or an upvote or any words or support over these past 30 days I have to tell you, it’s meant the absolute WORLD!

In fact it was a few of you who really were my best reminders to CHILL and not be so hard on myself as I was in the thick of it.

Thank you, thank you....

Of course a special thank you to my @teamhumble who was in my corner, wishing me “good yogas!” every day as I headed out the door, and who has always been my number one reminder to be kinder to myself. - Thank you love.

And now back to our regularly scheduled Dayleeo Steemit bloggities! Happy New Year everyone!

<3
Dayleeyoga

+ Link to today’s video : Renew & Restore (50 min) | DoYogaWithMe.com

+ What’s this challenge about?? Read my intro post!

We've also set up a Discord channel for anyone who’s participating and wants to chat with others going through the same program for support. If you just want to hang out and complain about how sore you are that’s totally fine too. <3-> CLICK HERE FOR THE DISCORD INVITE <-

I'm working through the Intermediate challenge but if you're interested... Here’s the full BEGINNER Schedule from my last 30 Day Challenge…

» TWEET ME «	» YOUTUBES «	» DISCORDA «	» PODCAST «