Wellbeing Lifelong

Recently I’ve been asked by different friends whether I knew sites to do yoga from home.

I think getting used to exercise from home is great, both financially and time-efficiently. I say “getting used” because it is not always easy to set a routine. Not sure what happens when I get home, but my “doing” mindset tends to switch to the “laze around” one. I distract myself with nothing, procrastinate or can easily “waste” an hour simply looking at my phone.

However, it is normally when winter hits in and I feel even lazier to leave the house after work, when I think again about the need to start some exercising routines at home – just so I can keep my lazy-self happy!!

I’m not an expert in fitness at home, but there are three sites that I have used and/or have inspired me at some point before. They are led by inspiring instructors and are free and accessible – it’s all good news!

Blogilates – The cheerful and friendly Cassey Ho leads this site which is full of links, plans, programmes, videos, and recipes… in all sorts of shapes, forms and social networks. What I like about it is that it is very easy to follow her plan even if you start from zero.

She has lots of videos in Youtube or you can also choose to sign up for the monthly programme where she sets the exercises for each day- here is the beginner calendar for instance. All done for you, you just need the will power to do it.

Cassey is very nice too, and her videos are well done. Might sound silly because it kind of shouldn’t matter, but the fact is her happy greeting “Hey guys!” makes you like her and more willing to go through the effort.

Doyogawithme – This is another site that has lots of free and good yoga videos. It is very neat and nice to navigate, plus you can actually select videos based the length, style, level, teacher, and so on, which is nice.

All the teachers are really good, but I must confess that what really hooked me to this site were the classes of Fiji McAlpine – Oh I love her! Her classes are strong and she makes you sweat, but her tone is so calm, so sweet… I think it is a good reflection of how I see yoga. It makes your body work hard but it is not hard on the soul.

Staystrongmummy – I discovered her page randomly on Facebook one day, and then her blog. Even if I’m not a mummy myself, I really admire the journey she went through and how she keeps healthy while kind to herself and following just some simple rules.

Kimberley became a mother of three children within 19 months, including twins, and her vitality is contagious. Aside from her fitness and nutrition tips, her stories also show the emotional down-side of motherhood, which is very honest, refreshing and interesting even for the no-mummies.

Her videos working out with her kids are her cute signature – she actually became “famous” when one of her fast-forward videos went viral. Her success since then has been exponential – well done on her  🙂

Now that I analyse it, I realise that maybe the key of my little selection is connecting somehow with the women leading the movements. The no cost and the variety of content is also a plus, of course!

Now that I’m more into yoga I’m hoping to get into the Ashtanga asanas, which are normally self-practised and I’m sure can easily be done at home. I just need some will power to get started but here is my source of knowledge for that little project.

I’m still a total beginner but as far I know, Asthanga yoga is made of series, and each series of different postures or asanas. Each asana should be hold for 5 breaths. Then, there are different levels of difficulty, but I’m sure they all bring the benefits of yoga – relax, peace, flexibility and strength for the mind and the body.

Namasté!