Some years, I do more yoga than others. This is one of my more off years. My fitness-time has been rather preoccupied with other things: running and hiking, specifically. The only time I was practicing yoga consistently was when I was in Wisconsin this summer. Altogether, I’ve only managed to complete 96** yoga sessions this entire year, and my body is suffering accordingly. Yoga helps alleviate my chronic neck, back, hip, and foot pain, in addition to loosening up tight muscles/tendons, building strength, and improving my mental health. In other words, I need more yoga in my life!

Every year, the yogi I follow – Adriene Mishler, Yoga With Adriene – puts out a free 30-day yoga practice for January. I’ve participated in these 30-day challenges every year since 2016. Some years, I actually manage to finish in January. Other years – like this one! – it takes me six months to get through the whole program. One month or six, I always finish, and I’ve loved all but one of these. (More likely than not, I didn’t enjoy that particular one because I was experiencing severe chronic fatigue that made every yoga move grueling. It was the Year of the Hives.) They are built for all abilities and all levels, with modifications and explanations throughout. I highly recommend each and every one of them, even the one I disliked, heh.

This year’s theme is Breath. I’ve signed up, and I encourage everyone to sign up as well. There’s a daily email with a link out to the free practice, as well as a calendar that gives the length of each practice so you can plan.

Though I don’t plan to give up hiking or running anytime soon – well, at least I hope to return to running when my body stops doing stupid things – I do plan to return to yoga more regularly. If nothing else, yoga serves as a perfect warmup for strenuous exercise, and helps to keep me grounded in my body. My body has missed it this year. I’m always, always 1000% better with yoga in my life. Even if it’s just a 10-15 minute session to start the morning.

So in just over a week, I’ll take a Breath and begin. Set up my mats. Turn on my flower lights and open the blinds. Embrace my inner self and the world around me. Reconnect to the earth and to the Core of my being. It’s going to be beautiful.

**I have a goal to make it to 100 sessions by the end of 2020. Wish me luck!