Ahhhhh.....

It's amazing what a little bit of yoga every day can do for you. At least it can for me. I know yoga isn't necessarily everyone's cup of tea--my husband hates it because he isn't flexible at all (we need to work on that, I know). But seriously, yoga rocks! I've been very good about exercising every day this month, and usually it's yoga. It's almost like my body has just come to... need it? Expect it? I don't even know how to explain it, but if I don't do yoga in the morning, I crave it. And now if I get into bed without doing even just a few stretches, something feels off. Woo! So happy and proud of myself for that!

And hey, I'm going to delve into that now. Part of being truly, wholly healthy, is accepting yourself. You have to look at and acknowledge what you are doing well. We often are our own worse critic and our own worst enemy. Choosing to see the good in yourself is so important to your overall health. It helps you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. And when you help all of those things, of course it is going to affect you physically. Be kind to yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. Allow yourself to make mistakes and not beat yourself up for it. Acknowledge your mistake and choose to learn from it and move on. I cannot stress how important this is in life.

Now I'm going to change subjects (squirrel!). I guess it's kinda along the same lines... Anywho. I had an awesome experience earlier this week and I want to share it. I was doing yoga one morning, a Yoga with Adriene video. (She is seriously my favorite! Amazing videos-she's real, honest, and just awesome!) In a lot of videos she talks about setting an intention. What was your intention for getting on the mat that day? what's your intention for the day? etc. I'll often think to myself that my intention is to be healthy. I'm not sure what it was but I decided to do it a little different that morning. The intention thing came up quite a few times in the video. There were a few poses where she would tell you to think about your intention again. That morning I decided to focus on four words. Strength. Energy. Health. Love. Every time she mentioned the intention in the video, I focused on those four words and how I wanted to have them and feel them throughout the day. Those four things were the reason I had gotten up and gotten on the yoga mat that morning.

Now this is the amazing part. I felt all four of those things all day long. I didn't do anything different. It was a normal, routine day. But I truly felt all of those things all day long. I got more done throughout the day and I just overall felt so much better all day. I'm going to try it more and see if I notice a difference, because it was amazing. I strongly encourage you to try it. At the start of your day, even if you're not doing yoga or anything like that, take a minute or two to focus on your intention for the day. What do you want to feel or how do you want to feel? Focus on it and allow it to wash over you and see if it makes a difference. It made a difference for me and I'm excited to see if it continues to when I make a conscious effort to focus on those intentions at the start of my day. Let me know about your experience if you try it. I'd love to hear about it!

If you've made it this far, I want to thank you so much for reading this. Truly. You have no idea how much it means to me that you have read my blog post. I hope that you enjoyed it and that you are even somewhat inspired to focus on your own way to health--physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Thank you for letting me share a part of myself with you.

A Little Better

Okay, so I could definitely be better at writing more this month, but I think this is better than I have been doing! haha. Any who. Didn't get much interest in people doing the July challenge with me. If you didn't see the challenge, read my previous post here. I know it's already about half-way through the month, but if you want to jump in and join me, please do!

Now as for my update on how I've been doing. I have successfully worked out every single day so far! I have done at least five minutes of yoga every single day, even if it's just a little to unwind and stretch before I go to bed. Some days I got in exercise just by walking a LOT-even just for shopping or what not. We went to Park City over 4th of July weekend to hit the outlet sales and we walked for miles, so I definitely counted that as my exercise for the day.

This is a pretty short post, but sometimes that's all you can do. Here's my little slowly healthy tidbit for the day, though. I mentioned that I have been doing yoga/stretching before going to bed. It is AMAZING the improvement it has made! I fall asleep more easily, I sleep better, and I feel better in the morning. Seriously, try stretching a little bit before going to bed. It feels amazing. And it's good for your body. A few of my favorite yoga poses before bed are the downward dog, uttanasana, and happy baby. If these don't gel with you, try something else, but try doing a little stretching before bed. It really does help in so many ways! Taking those few minutes to stretch, relax, and unwind really help you to relax and get you in the mindset for sleep, which we can all use, right?

Back to it!

I was lacking quite a bit with my working out the past few weeks. If you saw my last post you will know why. But I decided to get back to it this week! Monday I didn't work out but I was really active with Xavier after work, so I got a lot of walking in.

But yesterday was great! Monday night I decided that I needed to get back to it, so I tried to get to bed a little earlier. I woke up early Tuesday morning and did some yoga/stretching before heading out for a walk/run. I say walk/run because I haven't gone running in a very long time. It is sooooo important to take things slow when you're starting out. If you overdo it then you will feel like crap and it will be that much harder to keep working out. So I walked for five minutes then jogged for five minutes, then walked back home, which took me about seven minutes. It may not seem like much, but you know what? I felt great! I was a little sore today but it felt good. After I got home from my walk I did yoga for about twenty more minutes to stretch again. I don't know if you realize just how important stretching is. Storytime!

A couple months ago when I was getting back in to working out, I was working my legs-squats, toe raises, etc. I completely forgot to stretch afterward (I think the little boy was needing something), and I was DYING the next few days! My sweet husband had to help me out of the car sometimes because it hurt so much. And I hadn't even worked out THAT hard. Since then I have been much better at stretching and you know what? I haven't gotten anywhere near as sore as I did then, and I have definitely worked out harder than I did then.

Back to today. I DID get to bed earlier last night-yay me! So I got up extra early today so I could stretch, go walk/run, and then do some more yoga when I got home. I already finished that and now I'm writing a blogpost and it's not even 8:20 yet! Woohoo! Exercise really does give you so much more energy. Sometimes (when I'm good), when I'm really tired or have no energy during the day, I'll do a little exercise to get my energy up. You don't even need to do much, a little stretching or a nice little walk will seriously do wonders. Seriously, give it a try when you feel your energy really lacking.

Anyway, since it is a new month-why hello July, welcome!-I am going to challenge myself to work out every day of July. And I do mean every day, even it if is just a five or ten minute yoga sequence. That little bit of exercise/meditation can really lead to better choices throughout the day. If you're worried about keeping the Sabbath day holy, even just do a yoga meditation on Sunday-that's what I am planning on doing. What could be better than turning inward and meditating on the Sabbath? You could also do a little walk with family. I love taking Xavier out on Sundays when we can, and a little walk--around the Temple maybe? still totally counts!

So, if you want to join me on my challenge, then comment on Facebook. If I get enough people interested in doing it with me, then I will create a Facebook page/event for it where we can be accountable to one another and cheer each other on. And if you miss a day, don't worry about it! Let me know if you want to join me in my challenge. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day :)

Oh also-I am going to try to update the blog more often-that's another challenge to myself for July. Here's to a great month!