Namasté, Babes
This week at OHBI we took a metaphorical adventure and tried out yoga. We're classifying this as an adventure because we usually say "namasté in bed" and for us any form of physical activity is always an adventure. :) In a best effort to get us out of bed we took some words of wisdom from our favorite author, anonymous. Just kidding but we still were inspired by this quote. "It's yoga practice not yoga perfect" - A
Our motivation in trying out this calmative practice was to lessen the pains of our "maturing" bones. We're in our twenty's, heading to a retirement home any day now and we're up for anything if it means our backs will ache a little less. Dramatic we know but also so true. We also battle with anxiety and stress and are sure many of you deal with this daily wether it's your relationships, career, or the crippling fear of not having the right answer all of the time. We get it. Thats another reason why we decided to give yoga a try.
Our gal pal/expert yoga instructor Michelle clued us in on some of the excellent physical benefits of yoga. Excuse us while we get clinical here for a quick second: Increased core and muscle strength, increased flexibility, improved posture, digestion and circulation. Yoga can also aid in detoxification and relief of pain and tension. The mental benefits of yoga include clarity, calmness, relaxation of the mind, sharpened concentration and most importantly yoga can increase ones self- acceptance and confidence.
Now that you know some of the bang-up perks of practicing yoga we will guide you through our experience. We had the luxury of having a private class in our home. So the mood *cue laughs and shooing the dog away* was definitely different than taking a group class at the gym but don't let that discourage you! Making new friends and trying new adventures should always be welcomed. We've discovered that our comfort zone is a small one and if we don't embrace change and try new things, we stay exactly the same! None of us want to be who we were last year, just check out your TimeHop app and you'll remember. So embrace all that awkwardness friends!
We had Lana Del Rey's magical voice serenading us in background (Born to Die Album to be exact) as we went through the stretches and poses. Our poses and stretches however, were not as magical as Lana's voice. It wasn't pretty y'all, yoga definitely takes a lot of practice. Lucky for us there is a modified version of every pose and stretch for the less advanced yogi. We're not going to lie our favorite pose was corpse. Like we said, namasté in bed.
Our biggest take a way from this yoga adventure is that it's always important to pause, relax, and take a few deep breaths when life gets rough. Try something new this week!
xoxo
S&A
