It’s FUN for these five reasons!
• Feel connected: When you join a yoga challenge, you join an online community of like-minded students and teachers all working towards a common goal… and it’s difficult! A good challenge will also offer little mini workshops, or short how-to videos that offer guidance and proper alignment & modifications that support all levels of participants.
• Get stronger & more flexible: practicing prep-poses everyday for a yoga challenge is an excellent way to build strength and flexibility! A consistent practice like this could also help you move through yoga postures more easily. Yoga challenges are meant to push your limits, physically, mentally and maybe even spiritually. The entire point of a challenge is to push yourself to do things that you might not normally do in a regular yoga class.
• A different perspective: You may start to notice other yogis posts and begin to look at a pose in a different way. Maybe if you extend your arms in different way to get a better connection in a bind… or position your feet in a certain way to get more stability in a pose.. However, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in how “perfect” or “flexible” or “strong” the other participants’ poses are. Maybe this makes you feel as if you shouldn’t be doing this challenge because you aren’t as good. If you find this happening to you, ✋STOP looking at other participants and bring the focus back to you and your beautiful version or modification of a pose. Eventually, you will find yourself tweaking your shapes to fit YOU, your yoga pose! Just remember that perfection doesn’t exist and “mastering” a pose does not mean you are spiritual superstar! However, tailoring a pose for just you will allow you to appreciate it more completely.
• Establish a consistent practice on your own time: At the end of the yoga challenge you will have accomplished a huge goal! After 14 days or 30 days straight, you will want more! Joining a yoga challenge holds you accountable, and it’s a great way to start a consistent yoga practice!
• Improvement: In every pose, you will see the areas where you may need to improve. You will SEE it because you are either filming it or taking a picture of it! Maybe you always thought your leg was straight in a certain pose, but once you actually SAW it, you realized it wasn’t. In fact, take a picture or video in your first pose followed by an improved version of that same pose to show the subtle changes or improvements you’ve made. Taking a photo or video forces you to see yourself as you are in that moment. This can be scary or uncomfortable, but it can also be rewarding because you faced a fear that a lot of people have … judgement … but you realized you are more than a photo and a moment in time and you are proud to take on this challenge!
• Be patient & be mindful: ⚠️ WARNING to all yoga challenge participants … don’t be so focused on posting a picture for the pose of the day, that you push aside your warm up and go into a pose cold. Trust me I know this is how injuries happen. I hurt my shoulder by making this mistake and I will never do that again! So, please dear Yogi, remember to warm up those tight muscles and vulnerable joints before you post your shape! Stay motivated
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