Let's Talk About Yoga

I've mentioned a few times here that I've gotten into Yoga in the last few months, and I've had a lot of requests to share my experiences and tips, and whatnot, so this is going to be a bit of a mash up!

I'd done yoga before, but it's never been a regular thing. Back in college I used to attend Body Balance classes twice a week, a mix of Tai Chi, Pilates and Yoga, and I loved that, and I had that in mind when I started this whole process!

I started off by taking part in the 30 Days of Yoga challenge, on Youtube and this was the perfect way for me to get into the habit of daily yoga practice. All the videos are between 10-35 minutes, so easy to slot in in the morning, your lunchbreak, or in the evening. I found that the videos ran really well, you work your muscles hard one day, and you have a more restorative practice the next. Some days work your arms and some work your legs, but you never feel like you've done too much. There were a couple of days where I didn't feel up to the longer videos, and instead of skipping a day, I did one of the shorter more restorative videos instead, and picked up the next day, so I never missed a video or a day. I came back to this video a lot, because it's just a great all over stretch, without being too much. What I love about Adriene's videos is that she gives different options for if you're struggling, and encourages you to find movement and stretch within each pose, which I much prefer to standing totally still for ages in one pose!

Since I've finished the 30 day program, I've not been sticking to one routine, but going with what I fancy. Sometimes I follow Adriene's videos, sometimes I use routines from Pinterest (just search Yoga and a thousand and one routines will come up!), and sometimes I just make it up as I go along, doing poses and stretches that I feel like my body needs. On these days, I tend to go for a full Sun Salutation routine first, and then work in any other poses after. I always always ALWAYS end my practice with Savasana, for as long as possible, it helps so much with my anxiety, and keeping awareness throughout the day.

I've also done a few classes at Triyoga in London and I've loved it, but it is a little pricey! Nice as a Sunday treat every now and then though!

I also follow a few lovely yogi's on Instagram if I need a boost of inspiration! I particularly love Caitlin, Tara, Rachel and Honza & Claudine!

In terms of equipment and stuff, you really don't need much! I got my Yoga mat in TKMaxx pretty cheap, but there are loads on Amazon too for not much money! You can use a block for some of Adriene's videos, but I just use a rolled blanket and that works just fine!

I don't have expensive workout gear, I'm most comfortable in leggings and a loose fitting tshirt! I have some Nike leggings, but a lot of the time I just wear plain old Primark ones, or some crazy patterned ones from Monki! I have a few sports bras from Shock Absorber, but a lot of the time I wear my Primark one! It's not a high-impact sport, so it does the job!

And lastly, I wanted to just touch on how I feel since I started this journey of sorts. I've been practicing yoga daily now since the beginning of February, so around two and a half months. I was a total novice to start with, and whilst I still can't quite get my heels on the floor in Downward Facing Dog, or my feet off the floor in Crow pose, I feel amazing. I have more energy than I've had, literally in years, I'm calmer, less anxious and I feel stronger. 

I'm definitely a yoga convert!

Why You Should Add Yoga To Your Morning Routine

Today marks a month since I started making time for Yoga every single morning, as part of my morning routine. I'm not sure I expected to feel the benefits so quickly, but I certainly have! At the risk of sounding like a fitness nut (I'm not), I'm going to try and convince you to make Yoga part of your morning routine too. 

•  Start the day as you mean to go on. By starting the day in the sunlight (or with the rising sun), expressing gratitude and offering your body some TLC, you're starting the day in the best possible way, and it helps you treat your body and your day well for the rest of the day.
• You'll have more energy. As someone who generally picks an extra ten minutes asleep over breakfast, I won't lie to you and tell you it's easy getting out of bed thirty minutes early. It's hard. I have to put my alarm on the opposite side of the room, so I have to get out of bed to turn it off, otherwise, I'll just snooze in favour of a few extra Z's. But, as soon as I'm on the mat, I'm hit with a wave of energy, that carries me right through to the end of the day. Taking the time to stretch out first thing really wakes up your body for the day.
• You'll feel calmer, and you'll appreciate everything more. I always include a five minute Shavasana at the end of each session, where I try to think of nothing, but if I can't I like to list all the things I'm grateful for that morning. It helps keep my mind grounded, and focused, and is definitely helping keep my anxiety at bay. 
• It becomes a routine. And once it becomes a routine, it's easier to build a routine around it. Before this last month, the closest thing I had to a morning routine was continually snoozing my alarm for an hour, but now I have a proper one, and it's got a good skincare routine, breakfast, tea, and it sets me up perfectly for the day. 
• It helps treat the damage sitting at a desk all day does. Once I'm up, I'm pretty much at my desk until I go to bed, and it does nothing at all for my shoulder and back health. Getting up and stretching before I sit at my desk is doing the world of good, my posture is improving, and I've had a lot less shoulder pain.
• It helps speed up your metabolism. Meaning your body will digest food better, and you'll find it easier to loose weight. Bonus. 
• It helps you sleep better at night. I don't know why, but it does. I've been sleeping so much better this month!

Thoughts On Health & Fitness

It seems that every blogger out there has turned their hand to offering fitness advice at the moment, from the best YouTube workout videos and healthy recipes, to the best workout gear.

I am by no means a pinnacle of fitness inspiration, unless you count my incredible talent for stashing emergency snacks around my bed, but I did grow up with my mum, and even now that I live in London, I speak to my mum pretty much every day, and the woman is like a walking health and fitness dictionary. You can't live with someone like that for twenty years without it rubbing off on you a little. Over the last couple of months I've lost around eight pounds in weight, and the changes I made to my diet and fitness were pretty minimal.

I find it hard to take bloggers advice on health seriously, because I personally think that the most important thing to remember when it comes to health, fitness, weightloss, that kinda thing, is that we are all different. Whilst chemically our bodies are made of the same building blocks, we are all unique, which means different things will work for all of us.

Of course, there are certain rules that hold true for all of us, but for the most part, we all need to shape our routines to suit our own bodies needs and requirements. For example, diets just don't work for me, I can't stick to them, and I end up cheating. I can't do anything that involves calorie restriction, or low carb or paleo or anything. For me, it's much more productive to just make better choices. I try to eat as well as possible, fresh, organic, wholesome produce. Most of my meals are veg based, I try to stick to lighter, leaner meats like chicken breast or turkey mince, but I eat what I fancy. If I've got pizza on the brain, I make my own with wholemeal tortilla wraps as a base, if I want burgers, I make them by hand using lean cuts of meat, and ditch buns for lashings of salad. I eat a lot of sweet potato as a substitute for mash or chips, and I try to cook my own food from scratch as much as I can. Without making any other changes to my diet or exercise routine, I actually lost weight by cutting out premade meals and processed foods. I try to take my own lunch to uni as much as possible, and stopped buying Tesco meal deals!

It took me a long time to realise that you can have sweet things when you crave sugar, you just have to be a bit more creative than reaching for a bar of chocolate or a slice of cake. I tend to opt for things like vanilla soy yogurt with a handful of granola, or fresh fruit, or a homemade gluten free lemon and poppy seed muffins. I make flapjacks a lot, substituting sugar and golden syrup for agave, and they taste the same but are much healthier!

For me, the biggest key to losing weight was cutting out dairy. I'm actually allergic to dairy (but was in denial for a very long time, I love me some Ben & Jerry's), and cutting it out was great for two reasons; one, I stopped throwing up all the time, and two, I lost about six pounds pretty much right off the bat. And it was noticeable too, from about two weeks after I eliminated it, people were commenting that I looked slimmer, which goes to show how effective it was! Cutting out fizzy drinks was a big thing for me too, now if I'm craving a bit of sugary fizz I opt for soda water with either lime or elderflower cordial.

I still order the occasional Domino's, and sometimes my friends and I go chow down at Honest Burger or Chipotle, but by making sure what I'm eating the rest of the time is better, I don't see the effects of the occasional cheat. Like a glass of wine on a Sunday night! 

As far as exercise goes, it was tricky. Your standard cardio activities, running and cycling or using a cross trainer do nothing for me. I'm not sure why this is but I never have. Instead I like to alternate between Yoga and Pilates style work outs, and circuit training. I've gotten into the habit of using exercise as a form of uni work procrastination, and it makes me much more likely to do it!

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, take tips from people by all means, but if something isn't working for you then don't do it! If Acai bowls and spin classes aren't your thing then that's okay! Find what feels good and you'll be much more likely to stick at it!