Being Mindful of my Journey

It’s so crazy to think that it’s already been 2 weeks since I passed my one year anniversary of this crazy, unexpected, yet wonderful fitness journey I embarked on. When I set goals for myself at the beginning of the year, my hope was to find the desire and motivation to keep going. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day and not be mindful of how important it is to take care of our bodies, both through working out and eating right. I won’t lie, while I felt a huge sense of accomplishment making it to the one year mark, there has been a piece inside me that feels like, I made it and now I can relax, quit even. Move on to a new goal.

If only it was that easy. 

If only all the inches lost and the weight lost would stay lost.

But they don’t, in order to maintain, you have to maintain your workouts and mindful eating.

Last month, a local yoga studio reached out to me about coming in and joining in some of their classes. I had been referred by a friend who knew my love for working out. At first, the idea of going to yoga and trying it out, in theory seemed great, but I felt that I would use it as a time to stretch out after the “real work” at bootcamp was done. I really thought that yoga was going to be my Kumbaya moment in my week and so it actually took me a couple weeks to get to my first class. 

I remember walking into the studio, alone, on a Friday morning, thinking that I would go, relax, breathe, nap even. I even put make up on because I thought I would go, then head home, get dressed and pick up Katelyn from school. Then the Vinyasa class began. Friends, let me be frank, yoga is not easy! Yes, it can be relaxing, but it’s far from easy. There’s a great deal of core strength, focus and energy that goes into each moment. 

In those moments during my first class, I found myself appreciating the slower pace of the class, the permission to allow my body to stretch and breathe through each moment as we went. For the first time in the last year, I more acutely aware of how my body ebs and flows and how to focus my attention on each individual muscle. I could still feel my body painfully at time, moving through the strength of each moment. And then it happened…

I fell in love with Yoga.

I think I fell for many reasons. One being that I felt that yoga allowed me to stretch through some of the rigor that bootcamp creates during my weekly workouts and two that it created this awareness that my energy output in my entire day is very high. I’m always on the go, busy, whether working or playing and there isn’t a focus on slowing my movements and focusing on my breathing and there’s so much of that I feel is so important. Adding yoga into my weekly routine has given me a great awareness of the importance of slowing our energy output and allowing our body to relax more than when it’s in sleep mode. Would you agree?

I’ve now been to several classes and discovered Pilates Sculpt and Vinyasa to be my favorites each week and I’m combining those classes with my bootcamp training each week. I’m hoping to track how incorporating both of these types of exercises helps me achieve new goals I have for this year to as I continue to tone different areas of my body. I’ll be interested to see how this translates into inches and weight loss. 

This month I’m taking a more mindful approach to understanding my body and how I can continue to help to keep it healthy and to find new elements of exercise to help me as I continue this journey this year. When I shared on Instagram a picture from my first class, so many of you had such amazing things to say about how Yoga has helped you, I couldn’t help but feel the need to feed this new addiction. I would love to hear more. 

How has adding yoga to your daily experience changed your life in a positive way? 

 If you haven’t had the opportunity to try a yoga class, I highly recommend it. It’s good for your body and your soul! If you’re in Southern California, I would love for you to join me for a class at Ekam Yoga. Right now, in the month of March, they have put together an amazing basket of goodies they are giving away on their blog. Be sure to check that out as well, especially if you’re not local.

I can’t wait to share the next phase of this journey with you.

xo, Alissa