I’ve always wanted to develop a regular yoga practice simply because I know it’s good for me. Plus a flexible form of exercise, like yoga, is ideal when sailing a boat like ours. I had planned to do yoga to keep fit on the boat while we were travelling; it rarely happened. Although I have intermittently gone to classes over the years, attending classes is not always practical and the costs add up. So a yoga practice at home is perfect but I’ve never been able to establish a routine.
The recent Covid-19 “lockdown” gave me the chance to explore a bunch of creative activities and disappear down different lifestyle rabbit holes. One of these rabbit holes was the idea of the “30 day challenge”, prompted by this guy’s 30 day experiments. This idea is not new, you’ll find this written and talked about all over the internet.
Why a 30 day yoga challenge was appealing
- It gave me a chance to commit to/try something new
- It’s only 30 days. If it doesn’t work, I can move on knowing I’ve given it a good try
- The 30 day concept can be applied on countless ways; removing something that is negative from your life (social media, sugar), trying something new (sport, creative pursuit) or creating a new habit
- It doesn’t have to be a big deal or take too long either
What I did for the 30 day yoga challenge
- Found a series of free guided 30 day yoga challenge videos . The practice was 10 minutes a day in the morning; which I did every day bar one when we were on the boat and I did yoga in the evening instead
- Made it as easy for myself as possible; I didn’t change into any special, I did the 10 minutes in what ever I was wearing, rolling out my mat and starting regardless of how I felt
- I let go of any thoughts of a perfect 10 minutes practice, focussing only on completing the yoga session the best I could
What I found after completing the 30 day yoga challenge
- 10 minutes of anything daily is very doable, even in the morning
- I definitely felt more refreshed and energetic when I finished yoga
- I’ve improved in small ways. For example my flexibility has increased which is a definite advantage crawling around in small boat spaces
- I sleep better
- Small aches and pains are slowly dissipating
- I had a feeling of accomplishment when I finished the 30 days
What now?
Initially, my intention was to start a new 30 day challenge after I finished this 30 day yoga challenge. However, I’ve decided to consolidate and extend my yoga practice. So, believe it or not, I continue with 10-15 minutes of yoga in the morning, and have extended it to a Yin yoga practice in the evening. These sessions are now scheduled into a diary. Once my local yoga studio opens I’ll be back there for more challenging yoga.
I’ll be honest, it’s really still early days for me in establishing this new habit, a study reported that it can take up to 66 days to establish a new habit, so I have a little way to go yet on this one.
My takeaway is give the 30 day challenge concept a try, it’s only 30 days.
Photo credit: Photo by Avrielle Suleiman on Unsplash
Good for you Suellen! Like you I have established a walking routine, 4 miles every day. I am going to try adding 10 min of yoga next week after reading your post. Trying to get ready for our time on the boat and know I will feel so much better and am more likely to keep it up when I can establish the habits before I get there. Thanks for the inspiration.
I wish I had done it before we got on the boat. I had all the good intentions but because I hadn’t established a routine, it was very hit and miss. 10 mins is doable even when you’re busy with boat.
I am so impressed that you showed up for this challenge and decided to extend the practice beyond the 30 days. I have mulled about undertaking a few 30 day challenges as of late, but have not managed the first day of any of them. I’ll get there. I have enjoyed yoga every time I have done it and could definitely benefit from the practice now. Thanks for the inspiration.
I’m now at almost 2 months. The morning still works best but sometimes I manage an evening session as well. It does me the world of good. Let me know how you go.