I don't know about you, but I'm been going full steam ahead for the last few months and I'm ready to slow it down for a bit. Don't get me wrong, I'll keep up my workouts (because I love them), but in terms of yoga, I want to switch gears and start focusing on a restorative practice.

What is Restorative Yoga?

Restorative yoga is healing practice that is slow, gentle, delicious, and excellent for calming the mind, releasing anxiety, decreasing stress, and building flexibility. It's ideal for people who feel:

tired
overwhelmed
stressed out
unable to focus
anxious
with mild depression
lacking flexibility

How It Works

Set a goal. What is it that you'd like to get out of this program? Would you like to feel less stressed? More focused? With more flexibility? Whatever your goal, write it down. If your goal is to increase flexibility, you'll want to choose a yoga pose your way to keep track of your progress.
Grab a notebook. Speaking of writing stuff down, grab a notebook for your practice. Often, what we feel internally often shows up on the mat, so it's important to keep track of how your practices go in a little notebook. I love these notebooks because they have a little pocket for tucking inspirational clippings or readings I come across. I'm also a HUGE fan of these Muji pens. If you're a pen person, believe me, you want in on these pens.
Set a schedule and enlist support. The toughest part about starting anything new is sticking with it. To be sure you meet with success, I suggest two things:
1. Set a schedule. What time works best for you? Morning, before work? Lunch break? After dinner? Whatever time it is, set an alarm in your phone and consider it a meeting with your boss. There are very few times you would cancel a meeting with your boss (major illness, family emergency, etc). Only cancel on yourself if one of these things happens.
2. Follow through by enlisting the help of an accountability buddy. Over on the YBC Yoga Forum, we have hundreds of kind and supportive people ready and willing to buddy up. You can message them there and chat about anything that comes up throughout the program for you - and who knows, you might make your new best friend!
Begin. Each Monday I will post a suggested schedule for the week that you can follow along to. Do what works for you, skip what doesn't. The program, while focusing on restorative yoga, also includes power here and there only because I don't want you to lose any strength. If you don't want to do any power, just skip it!
Keep track of your goal. I encourage you to write in your yoga journal and take pictures throughout the program. Yep, I said take pictures. The reason for this is that whenever I do anything for the long haul, I without a doubt get down on myself within the first few weeks/months/whatever. I feel like I haven't made any real progress and that's usually the time when I abandon things. But I've learned that when we do things for the long haul, our progress is so small that we don't notice it until way down the line. To deal with this, I take photos because that way I can look back and compare then and now. We'll use the hashtags #ybcyogis and #RESTOREwithYBC on instagram if you want to share. Feel free to search the hashtags and virtually meet other YBCers! Introduce yourself on their photos, say hi, offer encouragement, invite them to your birthday party, whateva! Each week we'll feature a picture or someone using the #RESTOREwithYBC in our weekend newsletter. If your goal is something you can't really snap a picture of (like reducing your stress levels), consider the aforementioned journal your "picture". Write daily about whatever your goal is. For example, if I were working on reducing stress, I would write about how my mental state is, how I feel physically, anything going on in my life that I could weed out or deal with better, etc. Essentially, find a way to keep track of your goal whether that's with pictures or a journal or both.

29 Day Restorative Yoga Program - Pin now and follow along!

Troubleshooting

What happens when you have to skip things? Who cares?! There are no rules, and certainly no test at the end of this month to see how you did. This is a program for you, so you get to decide what it is you need because you know your body best. Let go of expectations and let whatever you're able to do be enough.

Supplemental Content

Note: If you have been a subscriber to the YBC Official App for a while, I'll be pulling in content from the past as part of this program. If you have not opted in to the paid portion of the YBC App, no worries- I have alternatives for you. But if you do want to opt-in, it's $1.99/mo and you will get a 20 minute video right away and then each week you'll receive either a recorded message (a quote, a meditation or a yoga tip) or a yoga video that we will use in future programs. You will not have access to past content, only because it's not fair to those who have been paid members from day 1, but don't worry because each week your content will grow and it'll be used in future programs that you can follow along to when the programs are released. Don't forget that if you screenshot your iTunes review of our app and send it to Lauren, we will send you a little gift in thanks.

So who's in?! Who is ready to dedicate the next 29 days to chilling out?! Let me know down in the comments below!

Here's the Schedule for the first eight days:

Day 1:

Exclusive App Subscribers: Do the guided meditation from January 5, 2016. Everyone else: 3 minute silent meditation.
30 minute restorative yoga for hip flexibility.
After,
check in on instagram with #RESTOREwithYBC and post a photo of your chosen pose or of your goal.

Day 2

Exclusive App Subscribers: Do the guided meditation from July 31, 2015. Everyone else: do this guided meditation.
Exclusive App Subscribers: Do the 25 minute hip opening yin yoga practice from October 6, 2015. Everyone else: Do this yin yoga sequence.

Day 3

10 minute morning yoga and breathing video
10 minute yoga for leg strength video
Push up party! #worstpartyever (your choice of 1-5-1, 1-8-1, 1-10-1)
Burpee party! #worstpartyever
Spend 5 minutes working on your chosen pose
check in on instagram with #RESTOREwithYBC

Day 4

Rest day

Day 5

3 minute silent meditation
30 minute yin yoga class

Day 6

Meditation: 3 minute meditation on a quote you love. You can choose your own quote or exclusive App Subscribers: Listen to the quote from November 17, 2015. Everyone else, check out this one.
15 minute gentle yoga
Pause vid in the middle and spend 1 minute working on your chosen pose
End with 3 minute silent meditation with hands in prana mudra.

Day 7