The yoga challenge, or 30 days of yoga challenge, was conceived by Adriene Mishler, an American yoga teacher who created a YouTube channel dedicated to this discipline.
The purpose of yoga challenge is to find harmony with yourself and to find or regain the consciousness of your body, be aware of your limitations and relax with breathing.
The yoga challenge is a very famous challenge on social media, especially on Instagram, where participants publish their photos and videos, but first of all the yoga challenge is a way to get closer to yoga and feel the benefits of this discipline slowly.
We have created a yoga challenge for you every day for 30 days to help you overcome yourself.
Yoga requires time, patience and discipline, and this is also true for the yoga challenge: you need perseverance for progress to spread through your body and mind.
A daily yoga practice can be difficult for those who are not used to practice often, in this sense, this challenge is called a challenge, but this commitment is more than healthy for you and after a few weeks, you will feel many benefits, both physical and psychological.
Yoga challenge is a movement that has been very fashionable on social media for some years, especially on Instagram.
The yoga challenge combines daily sun salutation with a sequence to be added in the morning or evening + one position a day to increase the benefits.
Of course, to follow the yoga challenge without risk, it is important to know your limits and not to force positions.
Yoga challenge: For whom?
Even if you are not an athlete, the yoga challenge is right for you. Follow your rhythm and, if in doubt, ask a teacher for help.
There are no particular contraindications in accepting this challenge because everyone works at their own level.
The challenge yoga is open to everyone, men and women, seniors, sportsmen and those who have not played sports for years.
Yoga challenge: Why do it?
Think about what you want to achieve to improve yourself, your diet and your life. Concentrate on one part of the body, a goal that you have set yourself, an emotion to get out: that’s what you can get with yoga challenge.
Thanks to yoga challenge, in fact, you enter a process that will change your relationship with your body and your life. One important thing: the result does not matter.
You just have to accept the challenge with yourself and follow the program. Follow the work schedule and give yourself time to feel the benefits, never lead to obsession and excess.
In yoga challenge, as in other areas of life, including diet, it is the daily repetition and constancy that lead to greater results.
Yoga challenge: Benefits
The 30 day yoga challenge program helps you enjoy all the benefits of yoga.
This discipline keeps your body in shape and tone and also helps you relax. Not only that, yoga practiced daily respects the physiology of your body but keeps your joints healthy and stretches your muscles. Finally, it gives you a flexible body and prevents trauma.
The challenge yoga requires no prior knowledge. In any case, the benefits of challenge yoga are numerous.
Physical benefits
Increases concentration
Reduces stress and sleep disorders
Improves the elasticity of tissues, muscles and joints
Tones the body: maintaining the positions, strengthens the arms, legs and abdominals
Improves balance and body posture
Increases metabolism.
Psychological benefits
Yoga helps you live the present better: unrolling your mat and practicing yoga every day helps you leave aside the problems of everyday life and focus on the present.
In particular, the yoga challenge will help you …
Let yourself go: Inhaling and exhaling is essential because breathing is life and helps you to let yourself go. Each exercise is punctuated by breath, essential for maintaining postures and seeking relaxation. Long inhalation and exhalation calm the flow of thoughts and let go of negative waves.
Overcome your limits: In addition to the sun salutation and a sequence a day, the yoga challenge includes a new position every day, to progress and go beyond what you already know.
Respect your body: Challenge yoga improves your relationship with your body. If you feel uncomfortable or feel pain when you perform a position, it teaches you to never force!
Never fail but always learn: Try, try and try again! Even if you have trouble performing an asana (position), try again the next day. The teaching is “sometimes I can, sometimes not, but I never give up”!
Don’t judge yourself: In the yoga challenge, you should never judge yourself, just try to improve. When you do the utasana, can’t you touch with your hands on the ground? Try again after a few days. It is essential to accept your limits to improve.
Inserting a daily yoga program helps you take new habits: It takes more or less 21 days to get a new habit. Slowly, you will feel the need to perform this yoga challenge every day because it will be part of your daily routine.
It improves mood and makes you feel better: Unrolling your yoga mat will become a ritual and will make you feel proud of yourself, proud of not finding excuses to procrastinate and not abandoning the first difficulty.
Yoga challenge: Equipment
To perform the yoga challenge, wear comfortable clothes to feel free in your movements.
No need to invest in sportswear: a legging or a jogging shorts and a t-shirt are fine.
The advice is to do the asana barefoot. Instead, a yoga mat is essential.
Where to perform the yoga challenge? Put yourself in a quiet room in the house, possibly airy and bright, where you can feel positive waves.
Tips for performing yoga positions well
The yoga positions chosen for you are simple and affordable for everyone. You can do them at home to experience the benefits of yoga from the very first sessions. Try them and you will discover a world of wellness and benefits!
Here are some important tips to get them right …
Before performing the yoga exercises, consult your doctor and evaluate your health with him, especially if you suffer from high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, abdominal hernia, back problems, epilepsy.
Take the time to dedicate yourself to your training with peace of mind: the best moments are in the morning when you wake up or in the evening before dinner.
The yoga positions are not recommended after meals but you can do them during the day.
Train in silence, with your eyes closed, the television off and away from the phone to concentrate on breathing or choose relaxing music. Try to free your mind from thoughts.
Breath, concentration and positions must become over time a whole to find well-being and balance.
Learn to achieve results gradually and respect your limits. Yoga is a discipline suitable for everyone but forcing too much is harmful: only constant practice will make you feel the benefits.
Between one sequence and another, perform deep breathing cycles for 10 seconds. You can repeat the cycle 5-6 times.
Yoga challenge: How to run the 30-day program
1) Start your daily practice with 1 sun salutation for the first 2 weeks. From the 15th day, perform the sun salutation 2 times in a row, taking a 2-minute break between each sequence.
2) Every day, check the color in the table and execute the corresponding sequence:
Green: yoga to be done in the morning
Pink: yoga against joint pain
Orange: yoga to do at night before going to sleep.
3) Every day, insert in the practice the new position indicated in the table (of the same color as the sequence), which you can decide to do at the beginning or end of daily practice.
For example, the first day you do a sun salutation + the green sequence (yoga to be practiced in the morning) + the asana ananda balasana.
4) In the calendar, when you see the meditation symbol (days 4, 10, 15, 20, 24 and 29), you must practice a meditation exercise to be inserted at the beginning or end of the training, so you have to do the sun salutation + meditation.
Examples of meditation practice
1 – Abdominal breathing
You can do this exercise as a warm up before practicing yoga or relaxing at the end.
Lying on his back, eyes closed, he rests his hands on his abdomen, inhales, inflating his belly and, while exhaling, he carries his belly inward.
When you feel master of your breath, try doing this exercise sitting down. Concentrate on abdominal breathing for at least 5 minutes initially and trying to get to 20 minutes.
2 – Fire breathing
Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position, back and neck straight, shoulders relaxed. Place your hands on your stomach and relax. You can do the exercise with your eyes closed to better focus on breathing.
Inhale from the nose until you feel the abdomen expanding and the fingers of the hands moving away from each other. Exhale until you feel the abdomen lowering and the hands approaching again.
The sequence must be carried out as quickly as possible, exhaling noisily. Take a break when you start feeling dizzy. When you have become familiar with this sequence, you can repeat the cycle several times until you reach 5 minutes.
Warning: Fire breathing is not recommended for those with heart problems, suffering from high blood pressure, hernia, epilepsy.
