Yoga is one of those things you either hate or love. Some people say it’s a life saver, something that changed their life for the better and brought them a lot of peace, calmness and a lot of health benefits both mental and physical. Others can’t stand the idea. It’s too slow, too difficult, their body doesn’t bend that way and the whole spiritual side of it irritates them. And while yoga isn’t for everyone, one thing’s for sure, you can’t be forced into doing it. Everyone who enjoys yoga and practices it regularly has come to it on their own at the right time in their life. And if you’re discouraged by pictures of people doing complicated yoga poses and feel like you’ll never be capable of doing them – perhaps it’s just not your time yet. Because that level of flexibility and strength that you see practiced by yoga enthusiasts takes time and effort. It literally takes people years of trying little by little to achieve the results we then see in a cool Instagram post. So let’s take a look at some progress photos and get inspired.
1. A lot of people think that doing the splits is something they can’t do just because they’re not flexible. As if flexibility is something you either have or don’t. The reality is that everyone can do the splits, it just takes a lot of daily stretches and work but you can do it.
2. It might seem like just a couple of inches of difference, but as you can see it can take years to get there. Progress takes time.
3. Can you imagine how satisfying it is to finally be able to achieve something you’ve been working on for a whole year?
4. Here’s a brilliant example of how progress isn’t linear. Some days you’ll get closer to your goal, other days might feel like a step back. But if you enjoy the process and keep working on yourself – that’s all that matters
5. It might seem more impressive to hold your legs in the air, but in the second photo you can see that she’s way more flexible and bendy.
6. No matter where you start, if you’re determined and give yourself enough time – success is inevitable.
7. Four years sounds like a long time, but your body needs time.Yoga isn’t something you do by pushing hard, you have to be gentle with yourself and your body will let you do incredible things if you treat it right.
8. While you definitely get more flexible with yoga, you also grow stronger. You need strength to hold those poses. Like yeah, her back is way more flexible now but her arms and core are also so much stronger.
9. Six years of work and not only can she now touch her foot in this pose but look how much more toned, stronger and more flexible she is.
10. So many men think that the splits are unachievable for them, and that they’re just incapable of being flexible. But that’s just not true.
11. So many would stop once they reach the 4th picture, but this is a great example of how you should just keep going. You’ll be impressed with what your body can do.
12. The progress might feel slow from one day to the next, but over the years it’ll become apparent that it’s all worth it.