Yes, it’s possible to overdo yoga.  Even though it’s so good for us, we can apply the same excessive mentality to this practice just as we do to eating, drinking, sex, buying, competing, etc.

Sheila Olson is on a journey of exploration: finding what is the relationship between fitness motivation and self care.

She self-admittedly overdid the “fitness motivation” side of the equation for years – she pushed and goaded herself along with guilt until her world collapsed and she discovered the deep unhappiness she’d been avoiding.

She learned that fitness burnout is real and can happen to anyone who isn’t careful about keeping an eye on balance.

Now, she offers some sound practices to remaining in balance.  Check out what she has to say.

Striking a Balance with Your Fitness and Self-Care is the Key to a Healthy Life

You’ve probably heard countless times that exercise is one of the best things you can do for your overall health. It’s true. There’s a type of exercise to fit any kind of physical ability and lifestyle, and the benefits are endless. It assists with child development and helps seniors prolong their lives. It helps overworked people destress and recovering addicts prevent relapse. However, it’s possible to overdo it. To achieve overall health, you have to take care of yourself. You must strike a balance between your fitness and self-care.

Think About What You Eat

The old saying “You are what you eat” is true in many ways. Any effective self-care plan will have your diet at the center. Eating nutritious foods not only helps with physical health, but it also affects cognitive and emotional health as well. It provides the vitamins and minerals our bodies need in order to thrive. Furthermore, it affects every other part of our self-care routine. If you follow an unhealthy diet, it’s very difficult to sustain a solid exercise routine, and it can affect your sleep patterns. Generally speaking, it’s good to be conscious of sugar intake and to stick to a diet of vegetables, fruit, healthy fats, fish, and lean meats.

Set Healthy Sleep Patterns

A fundamental, but often overlooked, practice of self-care is getting adequate sleep. Sleep is usually the first area of our lives that we sacrifice when life becomes overwhelming, and that’s a huge problem. While diet and exercise are critical for a healthy life, sleep is at least as important. Even the healthiest of fitness practices, such as yoga, can only take you so far if you’re not getting enough sleep. Not only does it affect how your mind and body function, but sleep deprivation has been linked to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and more. If you form healthy sleep habits, you’ll be amazed at how much it raises your quality of life.

It’s Crucial for Those in Addiction Recovery

It may sound obvious, but it can’t be overstated: self-care is crucial for those who are in addiction recovery. During the recovery process, an individual must endure all kinds of physical, mental, and emotional pain, and exercise can help with all of those. A good workout releases endorphins in the brain, which causes a feeling of euphoria similar to that of using drugs or drinking. Also, exercise is a good way to fill in time that was once used for substance abuse.

Give Yoga a Shot

Whether you’re in addiction recovery or coming from another walk of life, yoga is one of the best kinds of exercise you can do for your self-care. That’s because, at its core, yoga seeks to better the self in every way. Rather than focusing solely on the physical, yoga incorporates meditation and mindfulness into its practices, which can lead to increased self-awareness and acceptance of circumstances. It can serve as a stress reliever and it can help you eat better as you become more conscious of your body. Moreover, there are different types of yoga that can fit into various lifestyles, such as relaxation yoga, power yoga, hot yoga, prenatal yoga, and so on.

Striking that balance with your fitness and self-care is imperative for a thriving, healthy life. Being conscious of your diet and following a steady sleep schedule are just as important as exercising, and how you do each of them affects how you do the other. Out of all the different types of exercises for addiction recovery or any other walk of life, yoga is one of the best because self-care is part of its DNA. If you follow these tips and remember not to overdo it, you’ll be on your way to a healthy overall life.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Feel free to let Sheila know what you think.  You can reach her at – fitsheila.com | [email protected]