30 days of Yoga Camp

As anyone who talks to me about yoga knows, I LOVE Yoga With Adriene. She's the most amazing teacher and guide you could ask for and she even accomplishes this through home practice videos on YouTube, not even in person (although she does run group classes in Austin, TX - what I wouldn't give to go!). I've spoken more about her attitude and approach in a previous post but this one I want to dedicate to the 30 day yoga camp she ran throughout January, now that I've come to the end.

This 30 day program is similar to the one Adriene launched last year but this time she took the idea of self love and improved body image through yoga to a new level. There were daily emails and mantras to focus on during each video to develop your practice and ultimately to reduce any negative thoughts about your yoga abilities and beyond. I've never been particularly good at switching my head of during yoga. Sometimes I find myself planning my day or thinking about other things while holding an asana and I have to make a conscious effort to bring my focus back to my breathing. Adding the mantras to my practice each day was such a great way to keep my mind in my yoga and in the moment. If I felt my thoughts drifting I would just repeat the mantra and it immediately brought me back to my practice.

Now this might sound a bit mushy, maybe even uncomfortable to think about, never mind work to improve, but with all the pressure we put on ourselves to maintain or achieve a certain image, the idea of accepting ourselves and nurturing out bodies instead of punishing them is a really important one! I'm going to come right out and say I've had body image issues and thought that the idea of loving and accepting my body wasn't something I ever thought I would be fully comfortable with. But luckily, I was wrong! I had been working on the idea of acceptance and nurture for a while so joining this camp felt like an excellent next step in my journey as I was totally open and on board with everything Adriene was saying and trying to cultivate in me through mantra and yoga. However, if you have not started your journey towards self love, or have long since embraced it!, don't let that put you off giving it a go because if nothing else, yoga is great for mind and body purely through its movements and if along the journey you start to feel better about your outlook on things and have less toxic thoughts then it's a bonus! Even if you're a total beginner there are always options for the harder or more advanced poses or if, like me, your flexibility is limited then no worries! Adriene has got your back, and so do I. The last day is open to 'free practice' and I must admit that at the end of the last 30 day challenge I skipped it because I didn't know what to do! But this time I felt more than comfortable listening to my body and what I felt I wanted to do or experience and created my own flow and it was amazing! My final mantra? I am enough. And so are you.