Daily Yoga | January.

...I just shared this photo on Instagram. All those little green and blue circles are making me smile!

Green means I took a class (at the Y) and blue means I did a routine with the Yoga Studio app on my iPad. This morning I took a look back at January:

• 17 classes
• 14 Yoga Studio sessions
• 1,500 minutes (25 hours! this number surprised me. that's 25 hours I didn't read or knit or walk or do anything except yoga. I'm honestly not sure I can commit to that much time each month, but I want to try.)

I'm slowly starting to see progress. A little more flexibility (I can get all the way into child's pose at the beginning of my practice; I still can't do a forward fold, though, with anything close to straight legs). A little more upper body strength. A little more balance. And best of all, no pain! I haven't run since the fall; I'm sure that's helped me stretch out and given my knees a much-needed rest.

One of my biggest surprises has been how much better I'm sleeping. Nine of those 14 Yoga Studio sessions were the "15 minute Intermediate Relaxation", which I do just before bed. I have much fewer "restless" minutes (my Fitbit records this :-) and almost no "awake" minutes those nights.  It's awesome!

332 more days to go. Taking them each one day at a time.  So far the results have been worth the time. As long as that continues, I'm going to stick with it!

One Thing for 2015 | Beginning.

...remember a few weeks back I posted about that One Thing? A huge Thank You for your encouragement and creative input!

Day One.

I've decided it's going to be yoga. Yep, that hadn't even made the short list when I wrote that last post; it seemed too much of a stretch. But a few more things came together over that next week (including a very surprising one little word) and daily yoga suddenly didn't seem so hard. My goal is just 15 minutes a day, with poses focused on flexibility, balance and strength. Days I get to take a class are easy; it's the days where it's me and my mat and the Yoga Studio app on my iPad that are making this a stretch.

That cute little Moleskine was Friday's idea. I wanted a place to record details about my practice - and my progress. Not that I've seen any progress, but I do have five entries in the journal and that makes me happy. (it also makes me happy that I got the very first issue of the limited edition of 290!)

So far, I've taken three classes and practiced on my own twice. I'm already thinking about how I can get to more classes; I took one on Saturday and one today that I never considered making "regular" until now!

and I have to say, I feel good about it all. despite being a little sore.

I finally watched the January video for Ali's One Little Word class yesterday and see she's suggesting One Thing. I know a lot of you are choosing words. Are you taking Ali's class? do have a One Little Thing? I'd love to hear about your plans!

One Thing for 2015.

...I've been watching Elise's Make29 project from the sidelines all year.  And now, with just two more months to go, I'm excited to finally join in. Her December project, which goes live on Monday, seems just the thing for 2015.

image from Elise's blog

You can read her post for the full story, but the big idea is to do one thing every day next year. I love having the whole picture on one page. I love boxes to check. and I'm totally buying into the idea that "progress is better than perfection".

So...now I have to pick the thing. I want it to be meaningful, worthwhile and doable, but a bit of a stretch.

Some ideas that I've considered in the past hour include:

• 10,000 steps
• learn something new
• spend time with my journal
• and/or a devotion
• read
• knit
• connect with a friend

I'd love your input - what would you suggest? (and if you know, what would you choose to do for yourself?)