 I have been anti-yoga for so long. I can't even tell you guys. I've tried so many different types over the years. I've done regular yoga. I don't know what that's called. There's like a bajillion different kinds. I've done big rum yoga, which is the one where it's all like 115, 120 degrees and you just like are sweating while standing there. I've done acro yoga, which I really actually did enjoy, but there just aren't a lot of locations around where I live that offer that. And I finally decided to give it an actual shot because so many freaking people love their yoga and they just like have this intense love affair with yoga and I wanted to have that love affair with yoga. But I could never figure it out. If you're new here, I'm Sarah and I help teach people how to find inner happiness through fitness and spirituality. And today we're going to talk about what one month of yoga did for me that blew me away. Just totally blew me away. Basically, as a lot of you guys know, I'm really big on lifting weights. I've been doing it for close to a decade. About six days a week is what I average. And what I decided was for one entire month, I was going to incorporate yoga into my workout routine. So what I've been doing for the last 30 days is lifting one day, yoga the next lifting one day, yoga the next. And that's been about six or seven days a week. I take a day off if I really need to, but I'm finding that I am enjoying it so much. And it's such a nice break between lifting and putting those heavy weights on my body and stressing my like tenants out that way that I don't necessarily need a day off. So the type of yoga I've been doing is a form of hot yoga, but it's called power yoga, which is something that it's really just the perfect middle ground for me. Because when I was doing bickering yoga, it was it was too hot. It was too hot and it was so intense that the last time I did it a few years ago, I literally slept all day long. And I'm just not really a sleeper. So I was like, this might be a little too much for my body. Whereas regular yoga where you kind of like just stretch and slowly move in the movements and hold each movement for a little while was very, it was very boring to me and I didn't really enjoy it. So this power hot yoga was the perfect mix for me and I am totally hooked guys. It is done so much for me in just 30 days. Like, I get it. I totally get it. So I wanted to get on here and share with you guys some of the things that it's done for me. So that maybe if you're on kind of that teetering or when you want to, if you want to try it or not, that maybe I can kind of push you over the edge, push you give you a little nudge. All right. So I've had a really bad left shoulder forever. And sometimes it gets really, really bad. And then other times it's not as bad and it kind of goes back and forth. And the last two months or so before I started doing yoga, it got really bad. And I tend to sleep on that side. So I wasn't even really able to sleep on that side. It was I couldn't even lift heavy weights with my legs because of holding it, holding the weights with my shoulders. So it was really starting to get compromised. I have zero to 10% pain most days just stuff. And that actually started happening just within two weeks. So you're talking about maybe six or seven classes in my, my shoulder pain was pretty much gone after years and years and years of suffering through this, this really intense shoulder pain. So that was like, that was something in itself. Okay. That was like, holy freaking crap. The next thing that there are just so many good things, but like the next thing I really wanted to talk about, and this has been so empowering in my entire life. And that's the thing that I'm finding is that as much as I enjoyed the class while I'm there, I'm getting so many benefits around the clock. And that's why I am going to stick to it. So the second thing is, is it's really helping me with controlling negative and intrusive thoughts. So what I mean by that is when I'm actually in yoga, while I'm on the mat, it's a 60 minute class, I'm very focused on being there and I, because it's a power yoga and I have to listen to what's going on because we're moving so quickly, I don't have time to be thinking of other things. I don't have time for, you know, intrusive thoughts to be coming into my mind. And what that has allowed me to do is control those intrusive thoughts when I'm out of the yoga studio. So for example, Sam driving a long distance and a negative thought starts to creep in and I start to feel myself go down that, that panicky, that worry, like rabbit hole that so many of us do. I am now able to just literally be like, I don't really feel like thinking about this right now. So I'm just not going to. And I, in my mind, I just push the thought away. And that's all I have to do. It's, it's a freaking game changer. It has changed my life. You guys, like it's been unimaginable. I didn't think all these benefits would come from it. Another thing that's really helped me with is my meditation practice. So I've really been doing my best to get into meditation on a daily basis the last, I don't know, a lot of months. It was actually on my New Year's resolution this year to meditate every day. And while I didn't accomplish that goal, like I talked about in my last New Year's video, this yoga practice has really helped me with my meditation practice. Like I said, it's much easier to control my thoughts. So when those thoughts start coming in, when I'm meditating, I'm able to just like push them away. And it's allowed me to meditate for longer. It's allowed me to actually enjoy meditation at a deeper level because I'm not constantly trying to control my thoughts and my, my mind is not being flooded. Like it has been the last several months. So just those three things alone have been such a game changer for me. I feel so much more at peace on a daily basis. And things that can easily upset me or rattle me or kind of get me a little like freaked out. Haven't been as much lately. So an example is the other day, I went to do a little bit of shopping and I went to the register to pay and I realized my wallet wasn't in my purse. Rewind like six months ago or a year ago, my heart would have dropped. My heart would have started racing. I would have started panicking even if I seemed calm, cool and collected on the outside and I would have been freaking out. So went out to my car and the lady, you know, held my stuff at the register. I went out to my car. The wallet wasn't in my car. Rewind six months ago, a year ago, I would have been in severe panic mode, but I wasn't. And I said, okay, here's what's going to happen. I am going to leave my bag here. I am going to drive home and my wallet is going to be sitting in plain sight in my room. That's what's going to happen. Everything's fine. There's literally no reason to panic. I drive home where the hell was my wallet sitting right in plain sight in my bedroom. And so what this yoga practice has really been teaching me is that worrying is so stupid. It's so pointless. So what would have originally happened in that scenario is I would have been panicking. I would have been freaking out. It would have taken over my mood. It would have made me in a bad mood. And I would have been freaking out. And then I would get home, see the wallet. And while I would feel relief, my mood kind of would have been jacked up for the rest of the day. And I believe that because of this yoga practice and also simultaneously being able to meditate longer and deeper on almost a daily basis, I didn't experience any of that. Now I felt it. I started to feel myself get a little panicky. And I was like, Bousa, Sarah, Bousa, no, you're not doing this. And everything was fine. It was amazing. And then on top of those just wonderful personal benefits I've received, of course, I'm getting all the typical things that you get with yoga where I'm using my body a different way. I'm feeling more limber. I'm feeling more flexible. And I'm overall just feeling more connected to my body. Whereas when because I've been lifting weight so long, sometimes it can kind of feel like I disconnected. Like I'm not always connected with myself with my body while I'm at the gym. Because yeah, you can be listening to music and doing your studs, but your mind can kind of still wander. So not only has the yoga helped with all of that, but it's helping me with my lifting routines too. So it's just been so beautiful. I'm totally hooked. And you know, if you guys, like I said, are teetering on whether or not to try it. My suggestion is I have tried it on and off for years. I actually wanted to FaceTime my friend, Alyssa, to explain to you guys kind of what my relationship with yoga has been in the past, but I think she's busy at work. So I wasn't able to reach her, but just give it time, try a bunch of different types of classes and just see what works for you. Do it at home. Like people love doing it at home. I'm just one of those people that likes to go to a studio. I like to go to the gym. I just can't get in the zone if I'm at home, but a lot of people do. You can find yoga classes on YouTube. You can find them on demand. I'm sure you can find them on, you know, other programs as well. So I hope you guys enjoyed this video. It was a little different than what I normally do, but I was just so freaking pumped up about all the things that yoga has given me in just one month that I just had to share it with you and hope that, you know, you guys will get some value out of this and maybe try it for yourselves and get some unexpected benefits because that's really what it was for me. For me, it was kind of like, okay, well, I just want to see what everyone's like, what the big deal is. And the things that I got out of this, this last month of practicing I've done about around like 15 classes were things that I couldn't even have guessed I would have benefited from from doing this. So I hope you guys enjoyed this video. Don't forget to like and subscribe so we can hang out again next week. And happy 2022. I love you guys so much. And don't forget, be limitlessly yourself.