January 31, 2017

Why a Yoga Challenge Stressed Me Out

I was hoping to finish the 30 day Yoga Challenge with Sarah Beth this month.


I'm completely used to keeping up with a Pilates calendar, adding in workouts, subtracting workouts, and following a schedule. Throwing in 30 days of yoga threw me off, but it threw me off because it consisted of 30 minute yoga videos for 2-3 weeks. That's a huge chunk out of the day for me and, while Pilates is conducive to being broken up into chunks (half a video in the morning, half at night, etc), yoga seems to flow better (literally) if you do it all at once.

So I ended up, in true upholder fashion, getting really stressed out and started tightening behaviors and started thinking about how I could incorporate yoga in a more long-term way. I always feel better when I do yoga but I don't do yoga nearly often enough. Immersing myself in 30 minutes a day was not the way to go though.

Could I have done 30 minutes of yoga each day? I guess. It would've left no time for my beloved Pilates and other things wouldn't have gotten done though. Maybe that was the point?

Here's why I gave up:

1. I don't have 30 minutes in the morning. I mean, I could. But then blogging, paperwork for work, and daily upkeep won't get done. I get up extra early to be able to fit things into my day. By replacing them with yoga (which I did try to do for a few days), I was constantly running behind. That isn't something I deal with well.

2. I don't have 30 minutes every evening.  My muscles are more conducive to yoga at night because they're already warm. But by the time I showered, got things ready for the next day, etc, I was too tired to do yoga. 30 minutes is a long time when you're truly, truly tired. I thought about doing the workout earlier in the evening, and sometimes I did. But the relaxed state I needed to be in for that to happen wasn't happening at 6pm.

3. I fell behind on Pilates and realized how conducive my Pilates calendar really is to a busy life. The schedule I pay $9 for every month gives 3 short workouts and 2 long workouts a week. I usually change this to 3-4 long workouts plus the 3 short ones. Typically I break the long ones into two pieces and do 15-20 minutes a day, on average. Because the weekends are left open, I do anything I didn't get to M-F, on the weekend. It's a system that works for me.

4. I couldn't catch up on the weekends. With a 30 minute workout coming out every day (straight to my inbox, no less) there was no time to catch up. It was infuriating to my upholder nature, so I just had to stop.

I will absolutely finish these workouts/videos but I'll probably just do one a week for February. I like the way yoga makes me feel and I like the benefits of relaxation and flexibility I get from it. I believe in it. I just think this was a lesson in knowing myself and my current schedule and knowing what works for me and what doesn't. I think about all the days when I used to drive to a gym to work out and that certainly took chunks of time out of my day. I wasn't doing that every day though (unless it was summer). It was three days a week tops, not every day.

What do you think? Do you have 30 minutes every day for yoga? 

13 comments:

  1. Look...I'm in the worsssst rut with an exercise routine. So, I am not the person to ask how I carve out time in the day for it. I did yoga about 15 years ago, and I'd love it if I got back to it. I really need to. I've started walking with the intention to work up to other activities as well. I think if the pilates works so well for you, then no reason that shouldn't be your top priority with your exercise time allotment.

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  2. I've been doing Revolution by Yoga with Adriene.
    Confession: I didn't do every video the full 30 minutes or so.
    Some days I sat out many poses and some days I only did 15 minutes and shut off the video.
    Yoga is still yoga even if you don't do the whole thing or only do 10 minutes.

    I also missed a few days due to life here and there and caught up eventually.

    It is stressful to think about having to add this to my plate, but it really motivated me to a home practice in general.

    FWIW, I rarely complete studio challenges for this reason though.


    Most of the people I know who do, either don't work, don't have a family, etc.

    You have to commit a good 2+ hours to that whole process.

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  3. I had to laugh at your title.
    Nope- if I have 30 minutes, its a workout to get my heart pumping.
    I wish I got the love of yoga that some people have. Not one pair of jeans fits everyone.

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  4. I lasted three days with Adriene's Challenge. I wanted to love it. I wanted it to become a highlight of my day, but it did not. I should probably just accept the fact that I may never be one of those people who loves yoga and makes time for it everyday.

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  5. I have 30mins a day for a workout but not two. I would prefer to dedicate that time to muay thai :)

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  6. I've tried to do all these workout challenges and I just can't commit.

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  7. 30 minutes is hard for me too, to do an intentional workout. I don't even like running that long, when I run! 15 minutes holds my attention.

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  8. no, see, i love this. i've done this one yoga challenge a couple of times, but the videos are 10-20 mins long. there's another popular one that always gets shared and her videos are 30-45 mins. lol no. like you said, it doesn't leave time for the other things i enjoy and the last thing i want is it to feel like a chore. i have done the one i'm talking about 4-5 times, but never 30 days straight. i don't want to do anything for 30 days straight. i've done it a couple of times in order over like 2 months, but more often than not when i feel like doing yoga, i go to the playlist/channel and choose a video.

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  9. I'm more of a "3x per week" workout challenge person. Feeling like I HAVE to do the same thing every single day boxes me in too much. Plus, while I love yoga, it's not the only thing I like to do, and doing JUST that every single day would leave me no time for doing other workouts I enjoy. If I were you, I'd sign up for those challenges with the knowledge ahead of time that there's no pressure to do it every single day - if it looks fun and you have time, do it, or part of it...or none of it and it's okay.

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  10. I'm glad I'm not the only one who bombed this challenge. I've enjoyed the yoga workouts I did do, and I even started out and got every day done. Then when I got sick the first weekend of the new year, I couldn't get back into it. I also do not have time in the morning. I am NOT a morning person, and I'm lucky if I can drag my pregnant butt out of bed in time to leave at the right time. My typical workout time is when I get home from school. And even so, I'm still lucky these days if I squeeze in a short Pilates workout. I LOVE Pilates and I really have liked the yoga workouts I've done for the challenge. But I'm tired. haha I have all of the emails saved, and I WILL finish. It'll just be in my own time.

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  11. YES!!! These are exactly the same issues I ran into with my 31 Days of Yoga with Adriene challenge. I really liked her videos, but squeezing it into my day became very stressful.

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  12. I actively do yoga in a studio at least once a week and I STILL can't commit to a challenge. For one, I don't really like doing yoga at home since I do hot in the studio, that's what I've become accustomed to. Second, I made it 17/30 days because I got busy and never went back. Three, you're right. There isn't always 30 mins here or there and sure, it's about making the time, but when I have to "make time" to do nothing, yoga isn't happening.

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  13. I am impressed you even tried. I would love to incorporate more yoga into my life, too. I just don't know where it fits.

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