What I learnt from a 30 day yoga challenge
In my late teens and twenties, I loved yoga. I went to classes and even a retreat or two. Then the teacher retired and I couldn’t find a class at the right time for me. This meant I was left with a yoga VHS to follow at home and it wasn’t the same (this was in the days before there were thousands of YouTube videos available).
Over the years I’ve been meaning to look for another class, or make use of those YouTube videos - but I didn’t. For one reason or another I lacked the motivation.
This January however, many of the members of The Coaching Circle Community said they were going to do the 30 Days of Yoga Challenge with Yoga with Adrienne - a channel I knew to be very popular. We said we would all hold each other accountable, so I joined in.
I had the yoga mat at the ready (I’d bought this in 2021 with the intention of restarting my yoga practice back then, but it had lain unused).
For the first few days I felt excited to try each practice and rather good afterwards. Not because I could do many of the moves anymore, but because I had showed up and tried. I was back doing something I used to love. I’d finally made that decision and was taking action!
However, by the second week I was no longer enjoying it. I was dreading each practice, hoping each one was going to be very short. There were some favoured moves in each session that exacerbated an old injury I have causing trouble in my neck and shoulder. During the sessions I began to feel sick and the pain and headaches lasted from one session to another.
But, I’d made a commitment to my members and to myself. I’m usually very good at seeing things through and it felt all kinds of wrong to even contemplate giving up. So I persevered. And so did the headaches and nausea. I was grouchy and irritated at the thought of stopping and I didn’t want to give in. Instead I began to modify some of the practice so I did less of the moves that triggered the injury. I couldn’t remember many moves from the old days so in the end I did a lot of Child’s Pose. But then I got annoyed at that. This was my exercise time.
I’ve never been one to exercise, but have managed to get myself into an almost daily routine for the past 9months that was definitely working. It was making me feel good mentally and making my clothes feel more comfortable. I’d had to sacrifice a lot of this for the yoga as time is limited. So, I was irritated that my beneficial exercise time was now spent in Child’s Pose (as nice as it is, it wasn’t actually exercise).
I began to dread yoga time and I felt myself tense up as it approached. I still didn’t want to stop the challenge, so I modified it yet again. I looked for different routines by the same teacher. A couple were better, but that old injury was still playing up. I looked for a different teacher and a completely different routine / style of yoga. Still no. It was still problematic.
As much as I fought against it, I knew the right thing to do was to stop the yoga altogether and to go back to the exercises that were working for me.
The relief I felt from not having to put myself through another session that was just going to cause pain and nausea was huge. I still didn’t like not completing the challenge, but I realised that the challenge wasn’t right for me at this time. I’m not saying I’ll never try yoga again, I might, but I know what to avoid and if I do try it again it needs to be right for me.
So, would I say that the 30 day yoga challenge was a complete waste of time? No actually. Although I didn’t learn a lot of yoga, I did learn quite a few other things that are applicable to a wider range of scenarios and might help you too:
We all change. What we were once good at and enjoyed, doesn’t always stay that way for life and we shouldn’t force it to.
What works for many people doesn’t have to (and won’t) work for you. Don’t feel bad. Look for what does work for you. It’s okay to be different.
It’s worth giving things a go and making adaptations to your own needs. Sometimes these work. Sometimes they don’t - but knowing you’ve tried helps.
If something feels wrong or makes you feel bad about yourself mentally or physically, stop doing it. Your overall wellbeing will suffer if you don’t.
Really think about why you’re doing this thing. Is it genuinely helpful to you or are you doing it to fit in with others?
I’d love to know if you’ve ever started a challenge or a project and then reassessed it as you went to decide it wasn’t for you. What were the lessons you learnt from that experience?
