Oh Lordy, Yoga For Forty – Part 1
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“Oh no, there is no way I can do that,” I respond to my best friend Brenna, the yoga teacher, when she asks me to do Semperviva’s Forty Day Challenge with her.
She looks at me calmly and replies, “why not?”.
The excuses flowed faster than a Vinyasa Power Flow class. “Well, I’m taking that night class and I have lots of homework. My weekends are tied up enough as it is. I won’t have time to cook dinners. My body can’t handle it – you know, I’ve had that sore hip for months. I don’t have a car anymore. I’m trying to find a new job right now. And I’m not good enough at yoga to do it that much.”
“Ok then,” she says unbothered, “I’m going to do it.”
In reality, if anyone doesn’t have time to do this yoga challenge, it’s Brenna with her schedule of volunteering, yoga teaching and training, overtime working, and wedding planning to name a few. Her question of “why not?” stuck with me the whole rest of the night. It’s called a challenge for a reason.
But why forty days? I asked. It seemed like an eternity. Semperviva’s website (www.semperviva.com) states, Yogic science confirms that it takes 40 days to fully develop a new life-promoting habit or to drop a current destructive habit. Knowing full well that I could use something to break the repetitive question to myself: “What am I doing with my life?” I chose to try and sustain my mind from all the foreseen opportunities within my future and focus more on the now. Something I do well temporarily, but making it last is a recurring problem.
I started off strong. The first week of March 13-20, with momentum and positivity, I counted every class with pride. A few friends and I were in it together and created a routine support network.
Slowly after week 2, fourteen straight days of yoga, I began to feel the benefits of practicing every day, but these weren’t felt without pain. Strong, rooted stiffness which I took as good pain, but pain nonetheless.
To be continued…
