As most of you know, I enjoy yoga. So much that I sometimes get called a "yogi" and don't disagree with it.

For those of you that don't know what a yogi is, I'll give you my definition. A yogi is a person that chooses to dedicate his or her life to yoga.

I really do love yoga, but I was doing it more for fitness and only on some occasions would I use it for meditation and relaxation.

Since I consider myself a yogi I figured I would try to truly dedicate myself to yoga for five days and see how I felt.

Dedicating myself to yoga for 5 days meant seeing the sunrise every morning to get my soul and mind energized for the day, mediating to release my stress that I normally release at the gym, yoga every day for fitness and stress relief and a better mindset overall- watching my thoughts.

I thought it would be easy, since I'm a "yogi," right? I was so wrong.

Monday:

6:00 AM came waaaay too fast. I woke up to see the sunrise, and I couldn't do it. 6:30 AM came even faster, and I had to do it. I had to get out of bed. "Come on! It's the first day of being a real yogi," I told myself, "The sunrise comes at 6:38, so you better wake up." I finally did, and wow, I was at a loss for words. I have seen sunrises before, but this was beautiful because it was awakening my soul, and it could feel it.

I ended up flopping back into bed until 8:00 then finally got up. I had my cup of coffee, tried to gear all of my thoughts to have a positive day then I was off to take on the day.

I have to tell ya-I was feeling good. I was up early, felt good, felt positive, and I was ready for yoga. When it was yoga and mediation time, I turned on some peaceful piano tunes and put my phone on Do Not Disturb. All was well in the world. I then moved to mediation, and that's where the challenge was. I couldn't get my mind to focus. I mediated for about 10 minutes, and then called it quits.

I ended up sleeping pretty well that night, so that was a huge positive.

Tuesday:

Sunrise number two was a little easier. Probably because I slept well and felt better in general. Instead of going back to bed, I decided to just have some cereal and get ready for class. I'm usually late to my 9:30, but I ended up being 15 minutes early which was a miracle.

The day was pretty much the same as Monday. I felt good, did some yoga, attempted meditation.

I slept well another night.

Wednesday:

I was not really in the mood to wake up at 6:00 again, so I didn't. I ended up sleeping in until like 6:35 when the sun came up and then went back to bed. I didn't know if it was the waking up every day super early thing, but I was exhausted.

I found myself getting irritated. I wasn't able to go to the gym because I told myself only yoga, and that was taking a toll on my attitude.

Since I wasn't working out, lifting, and sweating, I felt trapped and bored with yoga. I felt like my irritation level was raising.

I still continued to do it and went to bed. Same old, same old.

Thursday:

This day gets juicy.

So my morning was the same, no big deal, but it was the evening where it got interesting. I found out that I was on duty (I'm an RA, so I have to be in the building and watch over the residents), and I decided to perfect my yoga poses.

Turns out I had a pretty good hand on them, but I definitely needed to practice. After the learning session, I wanted to do some inversions (inversions are handstands, headstands, anything to put you upside down).

Now I have been practicing these for the week, so I was pretty good at them. Well, I was going into a handstand and didn't feel steady enough in my arms, fell out of it and hit my foot off my metal bed frame.

I fell to the floor and immediately thought my foot was broken. It wasn't. Just terribly bruised with a lump the size of a golf ball.

Needless to say I called it a night after I did a lockout.

Friday:

My last sunrise. It was kinda sad because I really did like seeing them, but I was thankful I didn't have to wake up so early anymore. I took in the sun with an open heart.

I then stepped out of bed and fell over because I had forgotten my foot was basically broken. I shook it off, got ready for the day, and gimped all over the place.

I ended up going to my friend's house, and we went to the gym. It felt sooooo good. To just push my body, sweat a little, and feel my body working again.

I felt exhausted at the end of the day and passed out around 11:00 PM.

All in all, my experience wasn't what I was expecting. I was thinking I would be more positive, more flexible, and would love waking up early- I don't.

My experience ended up being eye opening. I feel more flexible, which is great, but I realized my thoughts need to be more positive in general not just because I am forcing it to be a yogi.

Also, I found that I do yoga because I enjoy it not strictly for fitness. I feel good when I'm sore after a yoga practice, but I feel amazing when I hit a pose because it's fun, and I have been working so hard.

I, Bailey Albert, am a yogi, and I am proud.