{Guest Post} Fitness Friday: 30 Days of Yoga

Feeling the Benefits of a Daily Yoga Practice

Hi everyone, I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I’m Erin, the blogger over at Creative Soul in Motion! I am so excited to be guest posting for Cook. Vegan. Lover. and chatting with all of you about my wonderful experience with the 30 Days of Yoga Challenge.

I started practicing yoga a few years ago. At the time I was drowning in work and so stressed I was having problems sleeping and focusing. After months of literally holding my breath I started looking for ways to open up and breathe deeper. That’s when I found yoga.

Since then yoga has become part of my life, part of my entire being.

Even though I’ve been practicing for a few years now I have never had a daily practice. It’s always been a 3 – 4 day a week routine that came and went depending on my schedule and my mood that day. Having a bad day? Do yoga! Have time to make it to class? Great. But it’s never been something I’ve dedicated time to every single day. Until Lindsay posted the 30 Day Yoga Challenge.

At first when I read about the challenge I thought, “Oh, I don’t need to do that. I practice yoga already.” A few days later though the idea of signing up for the challenge called to me and I honestly figured there was no harm. I mean, I already signed up for the National Novel Writing Month for November which means I need to write 50,000 words in 30 days so why not balance it out by promising myself to dedicate 10 minutes to yoga everyday?

It seemed like a good plan: 2,000 words a day + 10 mins of yoga = a happy stress-free Erin!

For the last 24 days I have been writing like a crazy woman but finding peace and relaxation through my 10 minute yoga practice. Honestly, 10 minutes is the perfect amount of yoga for me – it’s enough time to get through a few sun salutations, focus on my breath and feel the stress and frustrations melt away.

Dedicating myself to at least 10 minutes of yoga everyday has…

Helped me find a new source of strength within myself

Given me the ability to slow down and focus on my breath

Helped me improve many of my poses and learn some new ones

Shown me how a daily practice can help me feel more calm throughout the day

Improved my general mood and attitude throughout the whole day

Led me to discover a new way of thinking about my day and schedule

Reminds me that I don’t have to rush around and life is better when you slow down

Now it’s Day 25 and I have to say that I’m SO happy I signed up for the challenge. It’s helped me adopt a daily yoga practice that makes my day so much better. I breathe easier and deeper, feel happier and calmer and live a more mindful life. And all it takes is 10 minutes (but more can be better).

So thank you Lindsay for providing me with the inspiration I needed to adopt a daily yoga practice!

And if you’d like to read more about my yoga practice and attempts at self-improvement come on over to my blog Creative Soul in Motion and say hello!

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