My 30-Day Yoga Journey

I haven’t worked out consistently in months thanks to new mom life. I needed some motivation to get back into the habit but one that I hopefully keep up after the month is over. One Youtuber I follow does annual 30-day yoga challenges for the month of January. Yoga with Adriene has 11.8M subscribers for a reason. Her peaceful demeanor and well-articulated instructions (plus her cute dog Benji) make for an enjoyable practice. At the beginning of January, I planned to follow 30 days of Yoga with Adrienne. My excitement and determination were strong but muscles and ligaments weak. Unfortunately, my yoga journey only lasted 12 days and here’s what I learned about my postpartum body.

Week One – The Start

The first few days were very enjoyable. The videos moved at a leisurely pace and none of the moves were too difficult or held for too long. Adriene was definitely easing us into the challenge. I liked that it was more focused on the mind for the first two days. She encourages her viewers to be in tune with our thoughts and how our bodies felt. She continues that spiritual connection while ramping up the intensity as the days progressed.

I’ve been dealing with “mommy wrist” and a sore hip from walking my baby. I don’t notice the pain getting worse, but I do feel it during the practice. Day 4 and 5 were harder than the first three. After Day 3, my motivation started to wane. But I was determined to push through.

Week Two – The Hump

Wrist pain is starting to act up. I remembered now that I almost tore my ligament 4 years ago doing a barre challenge to get a free t-shirt. Not worth it. I’m trying to be mindful of my wrist for the remainder of this challenge.

Motivation is definitely flagging now. I noticed I’m more trying to rush through my routine. I believe a large part of this is because I switched to doing it at night when I want to just hang out with my husband after putting my baby to bed. Last week I practiced every day in the early morning before my family was up. I lit a candle, opened the blinds and just relaxed as the sun rose and Adriene’s soothing voice instructed me to bend this way and that.

Week Three – The Roadblock

I officially decided to stop the challenge due to wrist and hip pain getting worse. I was so disappointed, I even considered pushing through the pain for the challenge but realized that wasn’t worthwhile. What would I gain? Permanent damage? Not only did my wrist hurt but my hip began to get even tighter despite the easy movements and stretching. At this point I’m considering seeing a Physical Therapist.

Week Four – The Refocus

The force stoppage of the challenge weighed heavily on my mental happiness. Failing the first thing I do in the New Year was not the boost I was hoping for. But I am glad I stopped since my injuries are persisting and I’m making appointments with doctors to evaluate my current state. I then realized that my mindset isn’t right and that the point of this journey was to form healthy habits, not do a headstand.

Reflection on the 30-day yoga journey

While my intentions were good, sometimes things don’t go the way you plan. I was too focused on the yoga portion of the 30-day yoga challenge that I forgot what the core idea was about, which was getting back into a workout habit. Rather than modifying my challenge, I gave up completely. In hindsight, I should have resorted back to my step challenge or taken up Tai Chi.

In the end, I learned something from this experience. Though I felt so defeated when my body betrayed me only two weeks into my 30-day yoga journey, I realized the power of a positive mindset. While daily yoga seemed like a doable exercise; however, I realize I put too much pressure on my body to perform at a certain level when I need to remember I gave birth this past year. Working to bettering yourself is always good, but it’s also important to grant yourself some grace. My body is telling me it needs to slow down and move carefully.

This is a reminder to give yourself that grace you need. We can be our own worse critics.