Day 1- Completed

Still ALIVE, after DAY 1.

Last night's class was great--and considering I have been practicing for over a month now, I shouldn't have expected anything different. However, singing on to this challenge made me think the classes (the same ones I have been going to) should feel different somehow.

It reminds me of when I ran my first marathon. I had spent 4 months forsaking friends, cocktails and fun, all in the name of tackling 26.2 miles. I had put in the time on weekends, alone on the road, pushing through the pain and sometimes cold. I was prepared. When I came to the starting line the morning of the race, I was all nerves, my stomach flipping right, left, up, and down. I couldn't tell if I needed an emergency bathroom stop, or a sedative. And then it happened...the gun went OFF. There I was, packed in between 30,000 other people, RUNNING. One foot in front of the other, just like I had done nearly every day for the past four months. I couldn't help but feel like, "This is it? I'm just running?". And SURPRISE, THAT was it. Four Marathons and a countless number of Halfs later, and I am always amazed when I come to the start, and it's just RUNNING. The event itself does not make the action any different.

SO...where am I going with all of this? Right...should have prefaced this too; in addition to being a sometimes professed emotional freak, I am a RAMBLER. But, if you stick with me, I will always circle back (sometimes days later) but it will all come together eventually, I promise.

As I started my first day of the 20-day challenge last night, I realized (as I had realized at my first Marathon starting line) it's just another night of practice. "Practice" being the optimal word here. Each class my amazing yoga teachers impart many gems of inspiration and last night was no different. I was grunting and feeling defeated as I fell out of STANDING BOW PULLING POSE or Dandayamana-Dhanurasana. It's then I heard the teacher say, "It's called Yoga PRACTICE, not Yoga PERFECT."

And with that, suddenly 20 days felt much less overwhelming. I am committing to PRACTICE not to PERFECTION!

All of this being said, the real challenge will begin tomorrow when I have to force myself out of bed at 7am (post an all-girls champagne and pizza evening, I might add).

Stay Tuned...

Namaste


"Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind" ~Patanjali, translated from Sanskrit