“The act of doing this with Abi every day helps me to concentrate on the simpler things in life rather than being caught up in modern life complexities. It has helped me to deal with everyday stresses and to be a calmer (maybe even more patient) and happier person.”
I started my yoga journey many moons ago when I was a gym bunny living in London. Half-heartedly, I thought that I should do some more stretching to balance out my aerobics and weight classes and try to avoid injury. Luckily, I hit the jackpot as my gym had fantastic teachers. So for several years, I balanced sitting at a computer screen all day long with bouncing around at aerobics classes and yoga several times a week. It started off just as stretching, until I discovered the mental side—meditation and attempting to just be. Not really my strong suit as thoughts constantly turn into stories in my head!
I met my future husband cycling in India and this eventually necessitated moving from central London to rural Yorkshire, whilst still working in London half the time. I kept my membership at the gym in London (just) but fitting in other classes when I was in Yorkshire without a car was problematic. Hubby was a big MTB’r and I needed to get more bike fit so we invested in a Wattbike and that’s when we came across the Sufferfest. This was back when it was videos and RPE only. I was hooked….
WHEN LIFE INTERVENES
In the meantime, life intervened so I had to give up gym membership and could not find anything locally that I fit around my travel schedule. Work continued, with levels of stress that most of us just seem to experience and absorb into our lives. My yoga sessions had become sporadic if not non-existent. Then, following the advent of the Sufferfest app, yoga became available…and in 15-minute blocks! This has been an absolute heaven-sent miracle for me. I started doing the sessions on my own and then as part of the Sufferfest Training plans, which was great.
Soon the Challenges appeared and being a competitive soul, I signed up for the first one. I even got hubby doing it too. Then the wonderful Sufferfest community people started trying for consecutive days. Why not? I thought. Let’s give that a go. And I have been trying to do one a day ever since. Because most of the time who can’t find 15 minutes in the day? (Although I will admit to a few late night 3-minute Breathing sessions at 23:45 to keep the run going!)
DAILY YOGA TO DEAL WITH THE EVERYDAY STRESSES
This is what has brought me the biggest benefits. The act of doing this with Abi every day helps me to concentrate on the simpler things in life rather than being caught up in modern life complexities. It has helped me to deal with everyday stresses and to be a calmer (maybe even more patient) and happier person. Even to the extent of not beating myself up if I do miss a day!
We heap pressures on ourselves and Abi and her 15-minute sessions help to take it off. My goal in the future is to try and maybe get up to two a day but life is not allowing that at the moment. Current run 100 days, able to do Crow pose for 5 seconds without falling on my face and Dancer is still my favourite!
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