21 Days of Yoga

I finished the 21 Day Yoga Challenge from Yoga Journal Magazine a couple of days ago. The intention was to practice yoga for 21 days in a row and eat one vegetarian meal per day. It was great! Apparently it takes 21 consecutive days to create a habit and now I believe it.

To be honest the first couple of weeks were pretty easy. The hardest part was trying to come up with something new to keep myself entertained. The third week was near torture. By the time I hit week 3, I was really loosing my motivation to keep going and I was tired of my (by then) bland vegetarian meal. But, I pushed though and I persevered! I think days 18, 19 and 20 were the worst, but I was determined to see it through (and thankfully, a call to a close friend helped to provide the extra motivation I needed to keep going). And I am do proud that I did. :)

I have noticed a definite difference in my practice and am sooo thankful that I did this challenge. Honestly, I needed it. For a long while I think I had truly lost my practice. Being a yoga teacher is great, but I found that when I was practicing I was practicing for my students. Always thinking of them, how could I explain this asana better, how can I get my students to focus on this or that. In the meantime I lost what my practice was. My main goal in the challenge was to get MY practice back. To use my practice to worship God. To get back to the heart of it all. And it's working! I feel so much more alive now! Not just more physically awakened, but spiritually. Sure the physical benefits have been wonderful, but the spiritual aspect is what keeps me coming back to my mat. Just me and God, together. It's wonderful. God has blessed me so much and is continuing to use my yoga practice to deepen our relationship. I can't wait to see what He's going to do with it next.