Yoga has lasting benefits long after the class is over. Photo / Getty
By Zoe Sheltema
I'm one of those people you could probably never pay enough money to go to the gym on a regular basis.
There are three main reasons behind this:
I don't like people watching me work out
I don't like watching people work out
And I don't like working out
What then, is the solution for a girl who has recently discovered tea cakes and is set to balloon like Aunt Marge if they're not careful?
After scouring the internet, I came back to the one workout I have never hated: Yoga.
Everything with yoga is very gentle, very calm, very much "if you can't do it just rest in child's pose." That's my kind of vibe.
Yoga also has this thing called savasana, which is basically just having a kip (it's not actually, it's a lot more spiritual than that but it's also just having a kip).
I decided to challenge myself to stick to yoga for a month. I've dabbled before but I've never realised the full benefits of doing it every day for a longer period of time.
You can find yoga challenges on all sorts of websites. My favourite however, is "Yoga with Adriene" - a Youtube channel that is the next best thing to actually going to a class. And it doesn't cost the earth.
Here's what I discovered after doing yoga (almost) every day for a month.
I don't know if mine eyes doth deceive me, but I feel sort of longer than I did before.
Considering I was about as flexible as a plank of wood when I started I would say this has something to do with my muscles just having chilled out so much that they are relaxed, longer and more supple.
Since yoga goes hand in hand with meditation, I have found myself to be a lot calmer than I was before doing yoga everyday. I would find that when I was stressed my immediate thought was "maybe I should go and do some yoga", and you know what, that really helped.
And I mean this in the sense that, after I finished some yoga, I would crave something healthy to eat. What's the point in doing all that good and then ruining it by eating a pint of ice cream?
Okay, so I'm 25. I know it's considered young but ask any 25-year-old if they feel old and their immediate response will be "Oh my god, yes. I'm so tired all the time and my hips are doing this weird clicking thing and I just can't be bothered going out anymore." I have referred to myself as a grandma numerous times already this year.
Anyway, old age and just having to do work and all that adult stuff really does take a toll on you. I've noticed my back is about as supportive to my body as a Victoria's Secret bra is to a large-chested lady.
Yoga, however, has eased away all those weird clicks and knots and general old-man-type aches that I thought were going to be the end of me.
Yoga does consist of a lot of different types of movement, and sometimes you're presented with ones that just seem impossible.
But the cool thing about yoga is that every yoga teacher you meet seems to convince you that any person's body can do any move (obviously making exceptions for injuries). Instantly you realise there's no little voice in your head saying "I can't do that".
My favourite thing to do at yoga is practice crow pose because I feel like I a kid in gymnastics class again - it's a lot of fun.
The best thing of all about my foray into yoga is that it never really felt like a workout, even when I was shaking in my boots trying to hold downward dog. And that's not to say I wasn't getting a good workout but it was just never presented as something difficult or painful - and maybe that's the key.
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