Author: Lindie Gibbs

Overall, at the conclusion of this personal project I’m incredibly content with my choice to practice yoga. In my very first post I mentioned the two goals I aimed to achieve through yoga was to increase my physical and mental health. While I cannot fully say that I have achieved these goals due to the short time frame in which this personal project was set in, I do believe that yoga has had a very positive impact on my life.

Furthermore, I believe that the practice of yoga gave me more self confidence and allowed me to think of myself in a more positive mindset. This in turn allowed for me to make better decisions for myself in terms of eating and my daily regimen. I found myself taking better care of myself as a whole and I felt better about myself because of it.

Through this personal project I have learned the value of self care and how important it is to love yourself for who you are. Yoga helped me come to this realization by clearing my mind of negativity and by allowing me to have time that was strictly mine and no one else’s. It gave me a platform in which I could truly release my emotions and focus on what I need to do for myself for at least 15 minutes.

It is fair to say that yoga is an extremely beneficial and valuable practice and the output of practicing yoga is far greater than anything you’d expect.

In my last post I talked about the lack of inspiration I felt to practice yoga and how I didn’t make a considerable effort to set time aside and do  something for myself. This past week, and over Thanksgiving break I was happy to be able to overcome this lack of inspiration and really take time for me through the practice of yoga.

This being said, I noticed myself feeling a little happier with myself and more content with everything going on in my life as well. I have had a busy couple of weeks with school and soccer so it was nice to be able to spend a couple minutes away from it all and just enjoy the time I set aside to reflect and think about things going on in my life. I noticed that when I did this I became more productive and more efficient in my work. My motivation to get things done improved and I saw an increase in my awareness towards others and towards other things taking place around me. It made me feel a little more connected to my surroundings and to the people around me.

Reflecting on my decision to practice yoga as my personal project, I am extremely happy I made this choice. I think practicing yoga was very beneficial to me and I think it was a good challenge for me. I look forward to continuing my practice of yoga after the completion of this semester and look forward to see where it will take me.

So far my yoga journey has been progressing quite nicely. Due to the fact that the season is over, I have had a lot more time available to practice yoga and have found it to be a huge stress reliever. The app I have used to help me practice yoga, Yoga Studio, has been extremely helpful and convenient considering I can practice yoga right from my dorm.

One difficulty I have had practicing yoga is finding the inspiration to do so. I have really enjoyed yoga, but sometimes it becomes difficult to really set the needed time aside for myself to really immerse myself in it. Over break I think it will improve considering I’ll be in the comfort of my home, but as of now I struggle to really set the time aside and appreciate the art of yoga.

One thing I have really enjoyed about practicing yoga so far is that it has helped me feel more balanced. When I do practice it, I feel a lot more productive and complete. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and makes me feel good about myself because I am doing something for myself.

One of my goals that I wanted to achieve from practicing yoga was to relieve stress and so far, when I do practice yoga I feel much more relaxed. I’m looking forward to see where else this yoga journey will take me.

As stated in my first post, the idea of taking up yoga for my personal project derives from my goal of achieving greater mental and physical health. In that specific post, I examined the benefits of practicing yoga, which include, stress relief, increased body awareness and a calm, centered nervous system. My intention was to set aside time at least once a week to practice yoga.  Excitingly enough, I have been able to set aside time to practice yoga about three times since I originally began my journey.

Unfortunately, it does not work into my schedule to attend yoga classes offered at the school so I turned to the great and resourceful internet to help me find another way to practice yoga. With my research, I found an app titled “Yoga Studio”. This app allows me to chose my routines based on ability and physical need as well. With this app, I have been able to gain experience in the field of yoga with beginner classes and have been able to practice specific poses that aid in my physical recovery from soccer. So far, it has proved to be extremely helpful in helping me destress after a long day and has ultimately allowed me to go to bed calm and relaxed. Interestingly enough, the time I practiced yoga before bed, I woke up feeling more refreshed and awake than I normally do.

The experience that I have had with yoga this past week has been a very positive one and I am enthusiastic about the long term benefits I will receive from this practice.