This week we’re wrapping up our 4th Annual 40 Day Challenge, and it's been a profound experience for me this year because it’s the first time that I participated in the Challenge as a student. As of this morning I met the goal of attending 30 classes in 40 days.
This happened after one of Cony's Vinyasa classes!
So much learning and growing has occurred that in the interest of space, I'll just list it out in bullet points:
- increased strength
- increased endurance
- letting go of what the teacher thinks and what the students think
- back pain is almost completely gone
- body is ready to go to bed earlier
- quality of sleep is better
- recognized the effects of dehydration, motivated to hydrate better
- even with my busy schedule, I can make time for yoga classes
- better connection with our TYR community
- became comfortable being led through practice, which led to…
- looking forward to being led through practice (letting go of control)
- realization that I love all the different types of classes equally
- lots of inspiration for my teaching
- more awareness, patience, and understanding with my husband and young children
The 40 Day Challenge has been a huge reminder of why I started practicing yoga to begin with, and why I decided to become a yoga teacher.
I love how you can’t help but be present in yoga. There’s so much focus on breathing, movement, and alignment, that you automatically become fully present. You can’t help but let go of the fast pace of life, you can’t help but let go of your “to do” list, you can’t help but let go of whatever stress has been weighing you down.
After yoga class, everything seems right with the world. Everything feels possible. Everything makes feels figure-out-able.
When we wrap up the Challenge on Friday night, I can’t wait to hear how it went for all the other participants, what benefits they feel they’ve gained from the experience. Regardless of whether each person completed the 30 classes or not, they’ve undoubtedly been successful in practicing more yoga than usual. And I’m pretty certain that’s translated into some observable changes in their lives.
If you need some change in your life, know that you can commit to your own personal yoga challenge any day you choose. Pick a day, maybe the first of the month, or maybe tomorrow if you feel a sense of urgency, and begin. Try to practice every day for a month, or set a target number of classes you want to complete in a month. If you need some accountability to keep you on track, just send me a note. I’d be more than happy to check in on you and see how your personal yoga challenge is going.
XO,
Zelinda