So, I've taken up yoga...

And it's the greatest decision I have ever made.

Source: Jean Henrique Wichinoski, Flickr.

For those of you that read my post on new year's resolutions, you will know that I have decided to become more organised this year to combat/reduce the amount of stress in my life.

Improving my organisational skills has been a massive benefit to me already this year, however to help me even more in my quest for what I like to call 'Ultimate Calm Mode', I decided to start doing yoga.

Now I'm not talking about attempting to contort my body into various poses that even the most flexible of beings would not be able to achieve - I simply mean a gentle 20 minutes yoga exercise every morning to help me throughout the day.

I've downloaded an app on my phone called Yoga For Beginners, that gives a choice of exercises depending on exactly what kind of result you would like to achieve. For example, there are routines that combat stress, make you feel happier, relax you and make you feel more energised. 

I normally choose the energising exercise, and hopefully I'll eventually be able to replace my morning cup of coffee with my yoga routine in order to feel more awake (alas, I am not quite there at the moment).  

Not to mention there are huge health benefits from doing yoga, including improving your posture, preventing breakdowns in your joints, building up on muscle strength and flexibility, as well as allowing your blood pressure to drop. 

There's even been research to suggest that yoga can bring down levels of inflammation in cancer patients(!)

Although I did feel a little silly at first as I tried and failed to combat half the poses thrown at me by the app, I now feel strange not doing yoga in the morning. 

If anything - and I can't believe I'm actually saying this - 20 minutes of yoga is worth more than that extra 20 minutes in bed I would get otherwise.