30-Minute Yoga Workout Routine: ‘I begin.’ (video)

Welcome to Yoga Fusion! In this 30-min yoga workout routine, we’ll combine yoga with a short strength-training circuit to straighten our backs, tone up our shoulders, and connect our breath to our body.

By adding strength-training to yoga we’ll transform this session into a complete, full body workout that leaves no body part unworked.

The intention of this yoga workout routine today is “I begin.”

Too many times we avoid beginning because we’re afraid to “start sucky.” I remember feeling embarassed when I was a newbie at the gym because everyone was stronger than me. I was especially embarassed when using the machines because I’d only lift so little.

But that didn’t make me quit. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that there are also situations where I didn’t start because I was not already good at that thing I wanted to start. Take ballet for example.

I used to to have ballet classes when I was little but then I had to stop for a year when I was 10. I wanted to go back when I was 11 but I felt “too old,” “too out of shape.” So I didn’t get back to it. You know when I got back to it? When I was 17. But by that time I probably had missed 6 years of exercise and dancing.

Too many times we want to avoid the discomfort of not being good at something.

Whether that is exercise, learning a new language, or singing, we sometimes prefer not getting started over starting and sucking and having to improve while noticing how bad we are at this thing we just started.

Yes, we intellectually understand that it’s really difficult to be good at something we haven’t practiced before.

Yet, when the discomfort arises it’s not as if we have a rational person talking to us and advising us that by quiting we pretty much doom ourselves to stagnation.

Instead our mind usually takes over with toxic thoughts, blowing out of proportion our lack of skill, and sometimes even making stories about what other people think.

Heck, sometimes we’re not just suffering from fear of failure, or fear of having a big learning curve, there’s also the fear of success; the fear that says “what if I get started and I become great at this thing and then have ALL these things that I’m afraid of happen to me?”

So this yoga workout routine is an opportunity to reflect and stop this autopilot from taking over! Let’s begin, despite being newbies! It’s gonna be fun!

Whether you haven’t done yoga before, or it’s been a while since you last exercised, come on and let’s do it!

Level:

• Beginner
• Intermediate

Modifications are shown within this yoga workout routine video.

Equipment needed for this yoga workout routine:

• Yoga mat
• Dumbbells for our strength-training portion (shoulders & back!)

Did it? Congrats! As I like to say to my folks in Exercise Bliss and Flat Belly Firm Butt, “not everyone is doing it, but you are!”

How did you like this yoga workout routine? Did any specific situation came to mind when you were really holding back from starting something that was important to you? Leave a comment!