30 Days Of Yoga

I decided to do more about my health and wellness and I am giving 30 Days Of Yoga a shot. I was searching for something on YouTube and came across Yoga By Adriene. So I watched a few reviews on YouTube about this and decided I would give it a try.

I am now on day 1, so as I go along, I will do updates every week and give my review of how I am feeling, but also how it is working for me.

Adriene has over 7m subscribers on YouTube and seems to have a lot of glowing reviews. She is still active to date and has yoga for everything you can think of. Including meditation which I am going to try also. I am yet to find a meditation that I can connect with.

Why I am doing 30 Days Of Yoga

I wanted to do something like 30 days of yoga to get me into a routine.

I’ve since lost my regular routine now I am free in the mornings and no longer working during the daytime. So I needed to get myself into a new routine as I am feeling the lethargic effects of not having one.

Each morning I am getting up, showering most mornings, watering my plants very early, sorting the family out and then I am going to get some Yoga done.

This is giving me a routine which is really helping since my routine is all over the place now.

But also giving me energy for the day ahead and clearing my mind, body and stretching out my muscles after sleep.

I am one of those that wake up really stiff so it helps to get me stretched out ready for the day ahead.

With my plethora of chronic conditions, such as M.E (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or Meniere’s Disease to name a few, I had to start changing my lifestyle to give myself a better life.

So I thought it would be great to see if this works as I heard many have a lot of good results doing Yoga, especially with back pain and spine conditions. The herniated discs, straightening of lower spine and slipped disc can really make life hard. It was a great way to see if it helps.

30 Days Of Yoga – Day 1

The very first workout is about 30 minutes long and more so about getting you stretched nice and gently, with the option to do easier stretches or go a little harder if you are more experienced.

I was about the middle throughout as I am flexible, but have a lot of pain so needed to keep it relatively easy.

Now with Yoga, it’s something I have done on and off and never really committed to, so I am going to commit to this throughout June and even stick some meditation in there which I will review separately.

I’d found this really easy to do, with the different levels on offer to ensure you are stretched out and ready for the 0 days ahead.

Teaching to breathe is very important and keeping a good breath throughout.

There were a couple of poses I struggled with, so adapted myself so I could do them. But with time, I know I will be able to do them.

Overall, it was rather easy and anyone can do it.

Now I had to get looking for the best Yoga mats as I found the one I had was awful and thin.

It’s been about an hour since I have done the yoga workout and I feel nicely supple and stretched out. No noticeable pain. Which is grand!

Day 2 – 30 Days Of Yoga

Day 2 was a little more tricky, with different poses and some I struggled with. Again, I adapted myself to be able to do them.

I wasn’t sore from the day before so I was ready to get into the poses and stretch my body out.

Again, focused on breathing which is really important for this.

Increasing water is really important and having a healthy, balanced diet. I also started taking vitamins and minerals which would help me feel better and give my body more balance.

Lavender was something I added to my diet in the form of a capsule, this would help me long term with managing anxiety.

There is a lot to do on my 30-day adventure.

I felt no difference today, apart from very stiff but alas, I carried on.

Day 3-5 – 30 Days Of Yoga

Throughout day 3-5 I started feeling the effects of the yoga I was doing.

I started waking up really stiff and sore, but once I had stretched out a bit with the next lesson, I felt much better.

This lasted until around day 15 where I stopped being sore and my muscles were stretched out really well.

However, I now got myself into a routine so this was a great benefit for me. I wanted to be healthy and although I was finding it hard some days, I carried on.

I got a FitBit so I could track my sleep, heart rate and other factors which have really helped me keep on track with this. There are many places you can purchase your Fitbit accessories . I like to change my Fitbit straps often so I purchased several different straps, ones for all-day use and others for when I am exercising.

As I am living with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) it was worthwhile tracking my heart rate especially when I was feeling bad.

Not much change really, apart from being stiff and sore.

Day 6-10 – 30 Days Of Yoga

The poses are getting harder and I am now holding them for longer, with the odd wobble, I am managing them fine.

Although I am sore every day, I hope to feel the benefits the longer I do it.

I noticed on day 10 that my back pain was not so severe and my muscles were not as tight. There was less cramping too, but I have upped my water intake.

Noticing changes slightly with my body, it was a little more toned and noticed parts of my body were becoming a little defined.

The pain I was usually in was less, especially my back pain. I was so happy that my back pain was feeling less painful and could move around better.

I was still waking up stiff. But it was a different kind of stiff. More from the exercise than the usual stiffness I have.

I’m slowly seeing the benefits, but still struggling with my own body.

Day 11-20 – 30 Days Of Yoga

This is the time where I really noticed a difference. The routine I have come up with is really helping me with sleeping. I am sleeping a lot better and managing to get to sleep early, with early rising.

Fatigue isn’t as bad and I think the routine has really helped. Ples meditation, relaxing more and also yoga has helped me.

The 30 days of yoga challenge is really doing me some good at this stage.

Pain wise – this is getting better, especially my back pain. I’ve noticed a massive improvement with my back pain. The lower back pain is nowhere as bad and found I was able to move about more easily.

Stiffness was easing up quite a bit, especially in the morning.

I really wanted to talk about my anxiety levels. So at the start of this, my anxiety was quite bad. Especially with everything going on in the world.

As I continued with this, and including mindfulness and meditation, I noticed that I was less anxious in general. Especially at night.

Night times are generally a very anxious time for me. But I could sleep much soundly and at ease with the new routine and also techniques to keep me calm and collected.

Day 20-28 – 30 Days Of Yoga

By day 20, the stiff mornings had vanished. I woke up and the stiffness I have had for years was gone. Couldn’t believe it myself, it was impressive!

I had a lot more mobility and found that my back pain had decreased significantly.

My anxiety levels were very low and no sign of panic at all.

I’d also noticed that my heart rate was decreasing and not as high. Tracking my heart rate was a good idea and I noticed that my resting heart rate had gone from around 75 to 60.

Going into the poses, there are some I struggled with, I gave them a go and realised they were not possible. So I did another one instead.

The beauty of these is you do what you can physically, leaving out ones that you are unable to do. But also you can take a break if you need, just pause the video and catch up when ready.

Doing Yoga at home means there is no time frame so you can do it in your own time. You can break it up throughout the day if you wanted which will make it more manageable.

Day 28-30 – 30 Days Of Yoga

By the last stretch of the 30 days of Yoga course, I found I was more flexible, less in pain and my balance was a lot better.

The pain I have is not as severe and generally, I was feeling great!

So with the last 2 days, I really enjoyed it and as usual, I didn’t do any poses I struggled with.

Again, break it up throughout the day if it is too much.

Resting heart rate is around 58-60 now which is dramatically lower than the beginning where it was around 74.

As I have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome – tracking my heart rate is really important and when standing, my heart rate was lower. Usually, it’s around 180 and now was at 110-120 on any given day.

I was really blown away at the difference Yoga has made to my heart rate, I did not expect this!

So as my heart rate was lower upon standing, I was no longer fainting. I have pre-syncope where I have a blacked-out vision, fuzzy feelings and close to fainting, so I can sit down quickly. But there was no fainting at all.

Now as for my fatigue, my fatigue levels were lower and I was managing to cope better throughout the day. I stopped napping in the day a good few years ago as this made me much worse. But by 5pm I was struggling to stay awake.

Overall, I was feeling wonderful and I know that the more I do Yoga, the better I will feel.

The 30 days of Yoga is a really good way to dip your toes into it from home and see how it would benefit you.

After 30 days of Yoga

I carried on with Yoga, although I now know my limits and which poses I can and can’t do. This makes it easier to choose daily yoga videos.

I’ve found that switching them up and trying new ones also help!

Since I started this journey, my body has changed and also my health conditions. They are more manageable and I am having fewer symptoms than usual.

I’m planning on carrying on with Yoga and hopefully, in a few month’s time, I will be able to do even more poses and hold them for even longer!

Have you tried Yoga? Did it make a difference for you? Do you plan on giving it a go?