January is the perfect playground for any habit you’d like to try to establish or take to the next level. One popular option for people who love yoga: start a daily practice. Here are some of the best guides for a 30-day yoga challenge, and some tips on how to keep it manageable.
Who to Follow
There are a ton of ready-made yoga challenges that you can join:
- Yoga With Adriene runs a January challenge every year, and you can find Day 1 of 2018 here. Scroll back through Adriene’s youtube channel for the yoga routines from previous years (hello 2017, 2016, 2015…) which can also be your inspiration for February and beyond, if you’d like to take this idea further.
- Erin Botz at Bad Yogi has a four week challenge—close enough, right?—with a different theme each week.
- DoYogaWithMe has beginner and intermediate videos for each day, ranging from 15 min to an hour, with most around 40 minutes.
- Rinka Essel is starting a series of 5-minute yoga routines. That link goes to her introduction; as I’m writing, she hasn’t yet posted the first day’s video.
You can also roll your own challenge by doing whatever yoga you like every day. If you have a favorite studio, check with them too: some will run their own challenge, or you might be able to upgrade your membership for the month to allow for more classes.
How to Stick to It
Doing any exercise daily is only for people who pay attention to their bodies and promise not to overdo it. So if your wrists start to ache, don’t keep doing dozens of downward dogs. Try these strategies to stay healthy:
- Have a few easy or soothing routines in your back pocket for those days you feel sore or frustrated. Try this “anxiety relief” routine that has you snuggle with a stack of pillows.
- Bookmark a few short routines, too. There are tons of 5-minute videos that can save your butt if it’s bedtime and you realize you didn’t have a chance to get in your yoga today. This 5-minute beginner routine, for starters.
- Meditate. Yoga teachers are fond of saying that yoga is really about breathing, not about what posture you put your body into. So if you’re not feeling up to a workout, sit and breathe for a little while.
What to Expect
You won’t become a master yogi in just a month, but you can make some modest improvements in your strength, flexibility, and balance. However it turns out, you’ll probably learn something about yourself.
Redditor Emayarkay wrote halfway through 2016’s challenge that they felt their balance and strength improve. Avery Lucas wrote that she got reallybored, and discovered that she would rather do anything in a studio than a month of yoga at home. Leandra Medine found that she didn’t make great strides in flexibility (her original goal), but she did get a sense of peace of mindabout what she could do in yoga class and why she was doing it.
[“Source-lifehacker”]