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Five Reason Why I do Yoga Every Day

 

There are more than five reasons I love adding yoga to my day. There are actually so many this post would be waaaay too long if I included them all, today you get just my top five reasons!

1. Yoga puts me in the now.

I have spent most of my life worried about the next thing, the next stage, the next what if. Then, when my son died, I struggled to get out of the past. The “what if’s” took over my life. They chained me to the past. What if I had just done this, what if I had only decided on that. I was living in the past or the future but never genuinely enjoying the moment. Yoga takes away my phone, computer, work, and issues in my life and puts me in a place of now. I am 100% focused on my body and breath while doing yoga. Yoga has helped me become present and find the gift of now.

2. Yoga reduces my anxiety.

Yoga encourages relaxation, lowering my levels of the stress hormone cortisol. When I am in a place of high anxiety, I add essential oils to my diffuser to promote a feeling of calm and begin a short yoga practice. Usually, just ten or fifteen minutes of yoga bring my body back to balance. I do this even if I have already done a morning routine.

3. Yoga reduces my pain.

For years I had joint pain, I ached getting out of bed each morning. My neck has been damaged from years of cell phone and computer use. Adding Yoga has supported not just pain from my bad habits and the toll they took on my body but also created strength and balance in my whole system. Balance is vital for long-term brain and body health. Last year I spent a few months receiving chiropractic care for my pain. Most of my therapy was based on balance and getting me back on track. I use Yoga to support agility, balance and put me in a place of aging well. I still see my chiropractor but with far few visits since adding yoga to my day.

4. Yoga is exercise.

I am stronger now than I ever was before implementing a yoga practice in my routine. Yoga is a full body work out that targets all of my muscles. When I miss a day or two and come back to my routine, Holy cow am I sore! Yoga keeps me in shape. When doing a full hour-long yoga session I can feel my heart pumping, I begin to sweat which is detoxifying. I still add some cardio, and a few other exercises to my routine but yoga is my favorite part of my fitness routine by far.

5. Yoga teaches me to breathe.

I had no idea how inefficiently I was breathing until I started doing Yoga. Adding my Yoga practice each day brings awareness and control to my breath cycle. Breathing and paying attention helps me notice my emotions, keeps me calm and adds a higher level of focus to my lungs, belly, and brain as I bring air in and let it out. This supports detoxification, adding enough oxygen to my mind and organs for optimal wellness.

 

The yoga I have added to my daily routine is not spiritual for me in any way other than when I add yoga to my day I am more likely to become present with now which equips me with focus for adding prayer and my daily Bible reading.

I find starting each day with a home yoga routine is what works best for my schedule and assures I actually stick to my practice.

I am always open to a Yoga studio when time allows and love learning new things each time.

I use u-tube,  finding free subscriptions that work well. Often times better than just paid apps. Currently, Brett Larkin (https://www.brettlarkin.com ) and Yoga with Adrienne ( https://yogawithadriene.com) are the two I find I am enjoying most.

I finish my yoga routine with a ten minute meditation time from an app called Simple Habits (https://www.simplehabit.com). Once I have started my day with clarity, focus, stretching and detoxing I begin working on my bible study. This Mind-full routine sets me up for a day of mind, body and soul wellness.

I love combing yoga, prayer, and meditation with essential oils.

I typically do my yoga in the very early morning around 5 am. I put three drops of peppermint and one drop of Frankincense to my diffuser. The peppermint brings focus and clarity and supports lung function. The Frankincense is grounding, calming and brings a sense of overall wellbeing to my practice. You can get the Oils I use here.  I do not add water to the fill line on my diffuser as I only diffuse this oil combo during my morning Mindfulness practice. This combo triggers my limbic system to get into an emotional state of overall wellness.

Have you tried Yoga? How about adding oils to your morning wellness practice?
Cheers to a morning of Yoga and a Life Well Lived!