I’m officially a beginner yogi (completing the beginner’s yoga course)

This year one of my “52 in 52” goals was to complete the Beginner Essentials course on an iPhone app I downloaded. I’ve spoken in the past about my hip issues, tight from sitting down at work for too long and overdoing it on the exercise front. My theory was that yoga would help me combat that.

It was so effective that my hip pain is completely gone.

The app that I use is “Yoga Studio“, and from it’s own page it comes pretty highly regarded:

⁃ Recommended by: Mac|Life, 148Apps, iMore, Gizmodo, Fox, MSN, The Guardian, Huffington Post, and many more
⁃ Featured by Apple in “New and Noteworthy”, “What’s Hot” and the “Get in Shape” Essential App Collection
⁃ Voted runner-up in “Best App Ever” Awards 2013 & 2012 (Fitness category)

The beginner essentials course

My flexibility is at a level of zero, so I knew the beginners course was the perfect starting point. I can touch the floor with my finger tips, but only just.

I found I really enjoyed this course as it had a nice mix of types of sessions. They were all of different lengths as well, which meant I could cherry pick what I wanted on a particular day. They had:

• Balance (30min)
• Combination (15min, 30min, 60min)
• Flexibility (15min, 30min)
• Relaxation (15min, 30min)
• Strength (15min, 30min)

The 15min sessions were perfect for when I had a little bit of time to stretch out a bit before bed. The 30min sessions were good for a morning work out, and thankfully there was only one 60min session. My training partner, Ness, and I did that one morning on the weekend, and we found just after the halfway mark we found we were willing for it to be over.

Review of the app

On top of the beginner essentials, there are other courses as well. They include deep relaxation, yoga for back pain, and one in particular I’m keen to try, yoga for runners. There’s so many different sessions to try it would be extremely difficult to get bored of this app.

The music in the background is nice and calming, and never grated on my ears at all. The voice overs are clear and easy to understand. Ness and I have done a lot of these sessions in public (beach and river), and it was always easy enough to hear the voices so that we could follow the voice without having to constantly refer back to the screen.

It’s $6 to purchase, but I truly rate this app – I think it’s brilliant. I’ve tried a few yoga apps before, and this is the first time I’ve never had a single complaint. It’s totally worth the purchase price.

Review of yoga

I’m a convert – I totally love yoga now. There are days when I’m super tired, and too fatigued to go for a run. Those are the days when it’s so easy to do yoga – it feels like a lazy option (it’s not lazy at all though, and great for you). It’s also helped dramatically with stretching out sore muscles from a solid workout the day before.

As mentioned earlier, my hip pain has completely gone. I’m now at a point when I tell they’re fatiguing out, and need a stretch. 5mins of yoga poses that I’ve learned and the tightness is gone. I don’t have a limp anymore, and my running feels solid.

Most importantly, it’s just nice to have such a calming moment to the day. It’s not often that I make time to just stand quietly, and on the days when I’ve done yoga, I feel much more relaxed. If I could just get 24.5 hours out of the day, I would totally dedicate the extra 30mins to yoga every day if I could.

I’m really glad I added this to my 52 list, and so glad I’m well on my way to getting some more flexibility. I can already see progress – my knuckles are on the floor now, and my chest is much closer to my thighs in a standing forward bend.

If anyone is interested in giving it a go. I’d love to hear how you find it!