I continue to read about the benefits of yoga and how amazing it truly is. Being an athlete, most of the time I am moving around, sometimes not giving my body the rest it needs and deserves. Last week, I decided to try something other than soccer, a heavy workout, or running. I wanted to try beach yoga. After just one hour of relaxation and stress-free movements, I knew that my first time doing beach yoga would absolutely not be my last.
Why I recommend doing beach yoga, or yoga in general:
1. It's a positive start or end to your day.
If you're an early riser, doing yoga in the morning is a perfect start to your day. Practicing breathing, meditation, and stretching shortly after you wake up gets you off to a great start!
2. You don't have to be good at it!
Going into it, I wasn't sure how it was going to be. I'll admit it, I was nervous for beach yoga. Yes, I just said I was nervous for beach yoga. As I set out my towel on the sand I looked around at everyone stretching and meditating. As the session began, I completely blocked out what everyone else was doing and took the hour to focus on myself. I didn't know all of the names of the poses we were doing and I didn't know how to do most of them at first. The best thing about yoga though, is that there is absolutely no pressure at all! You don't have to be better than someone else because yoga is all about yourself, your mind, and your limitations.
3. You feel amazing afterwards.
Stretching is an athlete's very best friend. Anyone will tell you that after the difficult conditioning sessions everyone eagerly awaits the stretching part. At times you don't even realize it, but you are stretching and loosening up all different parts of your body. After the hour-long session of beach yoga, I can honestly say I have never felt better. Suddenly, my legs didn't feel heavy and my neck didn't feel stiff.
4. You can forget about everything for that time.
During the hour of beach yoga I was able to forget about everything. I forgot about the stresses of everyday life and everything else going on. To be able to forget about your troubles for a little while feels truly amazing.
5. The sunset sky at night.
Last but not least, through beach yoga at sunset you get to admire a kickass sunset on the beach! Living on the Cape, I can never get enough of sunsets on the beach.
