My Yoga Journey: Dedication & Strength

Hello friends!

It has been a while since I have posted anything about yoga (see Why YOU Should Start Practicing Yoga, and How You Can Start!), but since I have gotten many questions about my journey/how I started, dedication and strength I thought a post was in order:)

First off, I want to say that I am still on and will always be on my ‘yoga journey’. There will always be new things to learn, new poses to try and more to grow. But, I think it is important to be grateful for where you are now wherever you are in your practice. I think it is important to not compare yourselves to other yogis out there, and trust me, this is hard. It is about progress and being content with where you are and all of the progress you have made.

Also, I am in no means an expert. Like I said above, I am still on my journey. I am telling you my experiences and tips to hopefully inspire or help you 🙂

How I Started Yoga

Freshman year was a hard year for me. I am not going to go into details, but yoga really helped me. I started going to a yoga class at a gym near me, and I fell in love with it. It brought my mind out of my head and into my body, focusing on sensations instead of all of the worries, fears and stresses in my brain.

I went every Saturday morning, but soon enough I started practicing on my own. I copied what my teacher did in class, over and over. Then I discovered that YouTube was home to so many yoga channels and I began to follow along to practices there. I did everything from beginner and flexibility flows to even trying out some arm balance flows.

YouTube literally has every flow you could ever think of.

Here a few of my favorites:

Alo Yoga

Yoga With Adriene

Fightmaster Yoga

KinoYoga

Yoga by Candace

When I made my Instagram account, @leeshealthylife, I started following hundreds of yogis. There I learned the creative side of my practice; how to flow, different transitions and tons of different poses and variations. I participated in a few yoga challenges there, too. All of the yogis I followed inspired me to take my practice further. From them I got into practicing inversions, starting with headstands and working my way to harder poses like handstand.

Here are a few of the yogis I follow, but these are just 5 of the hundreds I follow. Search and you will find loads.

@the_southern_yogi

@jessicaolie

@tiny.kirsty

@omniyogagirl

@yogoskenz

YouTube and Instagram are filled with so many amazing teachers, even if they aren’t really teachers. Now I can ‘flow’ and practice on my own. Now I can push myself and try new poses. Each day I get more and more amazed at how awesome the human body is, and how many different and amazing things it is capable of. You just have to set your mind to your goals or what you want, focus in on it. Tell yourself your goal, and go for it.

But remember, yoga is a journey. An amazing, never-ending, learning journey.

Being or Becoming Dedicated

Starting your yoga journey is one thing, but sticking with it can be hard. I think what fueled me, and is still fueling me, is my desire to improve and to learn. It’s my desire to step off my mat feeling relaxed, happy and a smidge farther along my infinite journey.

What fuels me might be different than what fuels you, but it doesn’t matter!

Take a moment and write down your ‘yoga journey’ goals. Why did you start a regular yoga practice? Why do you want to start? How do you believe it will help you?

I also think it is important to remember that you are at a different place in your journey than others, so don’t compare yourself to super experienced yogis. I’ve been there, done that, and it does not help.

Being comfortable where you are right now is key. You might want to give up and lose your dedication if you are constantly thinking, “She is better than me!” or “I should be able to do that, why can’t I?”  Focus on where you are.

Being able to do hard poses such as a handstand is not the goal of yoga. As soon as you can do a handstand your yoga journey isn’t ‘complete’. “Oh, well now that I can do a handstand I don’t need to practice yoga anymore!” NO!! I believe that the goal of yoga, or at least the goal of my yoga practice,  is growing and learning.  And there is always something new to learn and farther to grow.

You can become dedicated to your practice in many different ways. Maybe you set a reminder on your phone or write in your planner ‘7 AM yoga’ for weeks until you don’t need the reminder. Maybe you start going to a yoga class at a studio or gym with friends. It doesn’t matter, do what works for you. If you truly want to grow and learn, I believe that you will become dedicated to your practice easier than you think.

 

Building Up Strength

Something I learned early on in my yoga journey was that strength is essential. I’m not talking about doing 50 push-ups in a row or squatting double your body weight, but physical and mental strength are both important.

Strength to hold a certain pose for five breaths, strength to convince your mind you can.

Whether it be Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana (High Lunge) or Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), you need strength to keep yourself there.

For me, mental strength is the hardest. In the beginning, I had a hard time telling myself ‘I can!’ and focused more on thinking “Can I?’ which I quickly learned was a bad habit. I never wanted to challenge myself and try harder poses because I always doubted myself, and I wanted to change that.

From then on, and still now, I make sure to believe in myself and tell myself that I can do it.

I think that physical strength comes with time and patience. A little while after I got into yoga, I started doing weighted workouts. Nothing heavy, just 5 pounds and I increased the weight as I got stronger. I believe that using the weights really helped me gain the strength for harder poses. But even without weights, you can do bodyweight exercises which will help you gain strength. Start doing five push-ups a day, and increase by a few each day or week, and you could do the same with squats.

Although, yoga in itself  is strengthening.  Find poses that are difficult for you, and practice them. Breathe into the poses, believe that you can do it and you will in time. And don’t give up.

If you click on the YouTube links that I included above, you can find many strength flows. Don’t always go to the beginner videos, challenge yourself to some of the harder ones as well.

Overall, I think the most important thing to remember is that your practice is yours and it is unique to you.

 

I hope this was inspiring to you and your journey! If you would like more yoga posts then let me know by giving this post a like and commenting! And don’t forget to subscribe/follow so you can get notified of new posts:)

 

XOXO

LeeAnn