Fri-yay Fast Favorite: Yoga with Adriene
Following along with “Breath — A 30 Day Yoga Journey”
Happy Friday! I’m usually pretty quiet on the blog towards the end of the week, but I thought I might start a habit of Fri-yay Fast Favorites — super quick little posts about some of the things I’m enjoying recently.
First up is Yoga with Adriene! I started (intermittently) practicing yoga ten years ago and was practicing several times a week before I moved from Chapel Hill to Durham. Since then I’ve practiced on and off depending on my schedule. But after my favorite yoga teacher moved away a couple years ago I really struggled to find another option that fit my schedule. For the past several lockdown months I’ve been doing yoga sporadically via Zoom classes, but it’s been a little frustrating not having a routine, especially since I’m out of practice and my body just isn’t as bendy as it used to be (that’s definitely the fault of all my running and not that I’m a decade older and out of practice, right?) and I’m struggling to quieten my mind (hiiiiiii pandemic stress!)
When my friend Magdalena told me about Yoga with Adriene and how she’s doing a 30 day yoga challenge (okay, she calls it a “journey” but you know I love challenges!) I was eager to join! Yoga with Adriene is a YouTube channel that is all about…well…yoga! The current thirty day challenge is focused on the breath and builds a yoga foundation over the month of January. I’ve done some videos from Yoga with Adriene in the past, but this is my first time following along consistently.
I’m currently on day 19 since I started the challenge a little late, but so far I’ve kept up with all the videos. I was a little bored at first — the videos are shorter since you’re doing them every day and they’re very beginner-friendly — but over time I’ve enjoyed it. After all, it’s better to have some consistency and build up good habits and practices with manageable goals than to intermittently go crazy and over-extend yourself. Plus it’s been fun to talk about it with other people who are doing the thirty day challenge or have followed along with videos from Yoga with Adriene in the past.
Yeah yeah, I know to relax my face and bliss out and all that…but I just look weird in pics with my eyes closed and my mouth slack (not my best look). So you get goofy grinning yoga Liz today. Also it was a photography backdrop sort of day since apparently my living room is not cute enough to turn me into a viral lifestyle blogger, lol
Tree pose! My favorite. I will literally just stand around like this in the kitchen if I’m making something. Although…eek, look at things I need to fix in my form! ::facepalm::
I even made a tracker in my bullet journal to keep track of my practice!
Have you done any yoga challenges or followed along with Yoga with Adriene before? Let me know in the comments!
Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina is a popular place for hikers and runners, and is one of my favorite spots. It is close to Winston-Salem and has a very distinctive profile that lends it nicely as a landmark for navigation, and can be easily seen from some places in the Blue Ridge Mountains.