Stress Less: What Yoga Has Done For Me

Here is another post for my “Stress Less” series on the blog today. Oh the wonders of yoga, haha! I’ll start off by saying I’m not that new to yoga. When I was younger, like ten or 11, I would take classes two times a week for about an hour. It’s young I know, but boy did it relax me. I still remember the dimly lit room, the amazingly scented candles, and how the teachers would cover our eyes at the end and spray our feet with essential oils. It was nice :)

Fast forward a few years, and here I am really throwing myself into the world of yoga. Before last year, I had no idea there were so many ways of yoga practice. There’s so many to name, but practices like Vinyasa, Hatha, Bikram, Nidra, Aerial, etc! It amazes me that they are all so different.

When I first started practicing yoga by myself a little over a year ago, I didn’t see the purpose of it. I didn’t look deep enough into what it was really doing for me. I almost gave it up for good, until I started researching different techniques. I also watched different youtube videos, which helped me to do more advanced moves. I ended up learning a lot, and I found that I like a faster moving flow, more breathe and things like that. Not always, because sometimes the slow relaxation flows do wonders. But it really sucked me into it!

When I finally started to understand what it does for the mind, I was addicted to it. At first, I though yoga was just another form of exercise or strength training. But it is SO much more than that. You learn to control your breath, your thoughts, your body, you build amazing body strength, flexibility, stability and the list goes on and on. I find that ever since I started doing yoga a couple times a week, I’ve been a lot calmer in situations where I would usually start to freak out or get anxiety. Since I’ve seen such amazing results with my inner self, I really want to start doing yoga every morning. Even if it means I have to wake up 30 minutes earlier, it really makes a difference in my day.

Along with changes in my mind and thoughts, I feel so much stronger! Really, even my mom was like “what are you doing to get your arms that toned?!” I’ll admit I got kind of excited when she said that, especially since I have thin boney arms, I’m glad I’m finally starting to build muscle. It also strengthens your core amazingly, your legs, pretty much every muscle of your body.

I have also recently found a yoga studio with my mom, and her and I have started to go together every Saturday morning. Let me tell you, after I finish my class, I feel like a new person. I sweat in that class, literally!! But we also do slow moves with long breaths that literally re-charge you and relax you to the point of sleeping. When I walk out, I feel so grateful and happy to be alive, and it sounds weird but my inner thoughts just change immediately.

So as you can see, I really have nothing bad to say about yoga haha. It just takes a little time to get used to! With our world going as fast as it is, and everyone is so busy doing other things, people don’t take enough time for themselves, and when it comes time to slowing down sometimes it’s hard on people because we aren’t used to taking things slower. So if you don’t do yoga, I want you to give it a try. Maybe grab a friend or your parent and try a yoga studio. You’ll really feel a difference in yourself.

Xx,

Maddie