Tuesday 31 March 2015

Let me explain...

... my Instagram feed to you. What up with all these pictures of me exercising? Why the sudden need to share this part of my life with you? I'm glad you asked. 


When I first joined Instagram three years ago, I had no clue. It had just come out for Android phones, and I slowly dipped my toe into the IG ocean by posting the occasional random photo of the dogs, chicks or some flower that caught my fancy. I didn't use hashtags (because I didn't know what they were), and I also didn't tell a story - my Instagram activity was limited to going overboard with filters and posting badly lit and grainy photos. 

Then I learnt that the successful and "big" accounts have a theme, whatever it may be: landscapes, artistically arranged still lives, travel, fashion, food - they would stick mostly to a category. 
While I found it impossible to do that, I did have recurring themes: dogs, nature, some outfit photos, a selfie here and there, and pictures from the farm.

But then, something happened a month ago: I joined a yoga challenge. Despite them being around for quite some time (years?), until then I had been unaware of the power of the Instagram challenge. A series of fortunate events led me to that particular yoga challenge, and man, am I ever glad it did! In case you are as blissfully ignorant as me, let me explain what an IG yoga challenge is: The hosts - in this case Kino and Kerri - do a specific pose each day and you do your best to do it, too. You take a picture or video of it, post it with all the appropriate hashtags, and that's it for the day. 

Except, it isn't. Enter the magic and positive power of the incredible IG community.
I was completely unprepared for the enthusiastic encouragement that comes with being part of a yoga challenge. The support is amazing! There is no competitiveness, it's all about empowering and motivating each other on the particular journey we are on.
You are much more motivated to work out every day, since being part of a challenge makes you more accountable than if you were to do it simply for yourself. Plus, seeing the progress of your fellow yogis is so inspiring: normal people with full-time jobs, kids, a full schedule and bad days decided to make this a priority, and check in several times a week (or even daily) to practice. I absolutely love it. 

For the first time in my life my body is craving exercise. Before, whenever runners would tell me about the runner's high or how much they love running, I was sceptical. Envious, yet sceptical. I wished there would be something like this for me, but couldn't imagine there was. 
Even when I did yoga a couple of years ago, it wasn't the same. I enjoyed it tremendously, yet still had to talk myself into going to the studio or doing the same video yet again, and would skip it more often than not.   
           
I have tried to analyze why it feels so different now, and what I came up with is this: My goal is completely different this time around. Instead of doing it mostly for getting a skinny body, I'm doing it because I can sense that it has the power to transform body, mind and spirit. Don't get me wrong, I think yogis have beautiful bodies, and I won't mind one bit to get one myself in the process. But it is more of a pleasant side effect and not the main goal. 
I want to be a kinder, more forgiving person, and yoga is the path towards it. It also teaches you to really listen to your body, which is something most of us don't do enough. 

And then there is this incredible 96-year old lady:    
Isn't that what most of us dream of, being so fit and healthy? She is amazing! 


Also, check her out:
It seems utterly impossible that I might be able to do this myself one day. But you know what? Nothing is impossible if we put our mind to it, and I will work towards this!

Have you ever done an Instagram challenge before? Which exercise do you love?







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10 comments

  1. I already started following Kino's account. The detox challenge looks so good!! Can't wait to join in :)

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  2. I love this! I hope you will be joining more challenges this month!

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  3. That is absolutely incredible!!! I definitely want to get into some sort of challenge soon...I feel like once #GetFitInFebruary ended, I sort of lost momentum :( I'm on the hunt for something new! And holy cow...her joints must be made of jelly! I so wish I could move like that!
    ~ Samantha

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  4. I'm so, so glad that you discovered the yoga challenge and have been participating! It has been fun to see your progress! Keep up the great work.

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  5. I'm not doing an instagram challenge but I am still working on my headstand. And, as far as exercises i love that would be of course volleyball and running....I've been running 3-5x per week for the last three weeks! Today I did 7.5 km :)
    -Linds

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  6. Yay! Please do, it's such a motivating and inspiring community! It has reignited my passion for yoga, and I'm so thankful for it. Go girl!

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  7. Yes, I will! I'm gonna look into a few more, it's addictive!

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  8. Try it, you may fall in love with it too. I really hope you do, it's the best workout I've ever done!

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  9. I can't stop, I have fallen completely in love! Yoga completes my life. All those ladies on Instagram are so motivating, I love practicing alongside them.

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  10. Woohoo, you go girl! That's awesome. You're doing amazing with all your fitness goals, your headstand is getting better and better. You'll have to show me in real life!

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