Completing CENTER: A 30 Day Yoga Journey in January 2023 // i did yoga for 30 days and i will never stop

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to a bit of a different post, where I wanted to share my experience doing the Yoga With Adriene 30 Day Challenge in January, called CENTER. This is where Adriene uploaded a new yoga video every day, and they went together to form a journey, improving strength and conscious breath every day. It was the best experience and I wanted to share my thoughts.

Thank you to my dad, who burnt his dinner to make this graphic over video call as I couldn't access my account from France. Thank you!!

For a bit of context, I began practicing yoga towards the end of the last academic year, in June/July time and did it on and off most mornings, but usually only for 10 minutes. Then throughout the Autumn term I was quite inconsistent again, completing it most mornings but not being very strict about it, and definitely not doing any long practices. Enter 2023 and new year motivation.

I really want this year to be "my year". This year I'm going to travel, to learn so much, and begin the toughest year so far academically. It's going to be a ride, but I'm so excited and to me this yoga journey was the start of that. 

I ended up also completing around half of the sessions with my mum, which was incredible and so special! Doing yoga is more than the spiritual side people often associate with the practice. Adriene acknowledges that this is an aspect, but also focuses on the physical benefits of stretches and conditioning. The practices were varied, with some being more conditioning focused and intense and others being more relaxed and meditative. 

I found the journey to be just fantastic. I learnt so much, and it really felt like each practice built on the previous one and I loved the way I felt like I was improving both physically and mentally with every session. 

Adriene also has such a focus on inclusivity and listening to your body. She suggests lots of alternatives throughout the practices which demand less flexibility or strength, or even challenge you more. She has such a soothing voice too and she also talked about how you just have to take whatever feelings you have with you to the mat and practice with a full awareness of them being present. 

Each practice had a specific theme such as: LISTEN, ALIGN and ROOT. I loved how each practice changed my perspective on something and Adriene provides you with prompts as to what you should think about during the practice via her email subscription. 

I am so thankful that I was able to complete this and I can honestly say that I will never stop. I will continue practicing yoga for as long as I possibly can, the benefits (both mentally and physically) are just incredible.

Around The Blogosphere: 

- The Espresso Edition shares what she's learnt after 365 consecutive days of yoga.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post, and I hope I have inspired you to start yoga, to take up your practice again, or just to think more openly about the practice of yoga and what it means. Thank you so much for joining me again, dear friends!!

Have you ever done yoga? What were your assumptions towards yoga prior to this post? What have you accomplished this January?

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p.s. casual magic of the day:

(If you are new here and have no idea what I'm on about, click here to find out more)

I am currently in France for family reasons, and we arrived this morning (I wrote this post two weeks ago). As we were getting off the ferry and when we were driving through Brittany there was the most gorgeous sunrise and light and it was so magical!! Finding little pieces of light in a bad situation is what gets you through <33