40 Days of Yoga – The Final Crunch

So the other day my boyfriend joked that my new home is the yoga studio. I didn’t laugh. It’s really not funny. In the last 48 hours I have been to the studio four times. Today is day 38 of 40 days of yoga.

I have done everything in my power to attend a class each day for the 40 Day Yoga Challenge. I have traipsed back and forth in pouring rain in my brand new winter jacket and dragon-printed gumboots, orange yoga mat bag slung over my back. I have sucked up my morning hate-on to attend a handful of early classes, arriving at work glossy and gross (we have a gym with showers, thank god). I have groaned and moaned, rearranged my schedule and asked that no one request my presence until after 7pm during weeknights.

This guy has the right idea!

Despite my diligence, I missed three days. Thankfully Semperviva allows participants in its 40 Day Yoga Challenge to make-up the missed days by tacking them onto other days. Now that the final week has set in, I am pushing myself to make-up those missed classes and hit 40 classes in 40 days. I figure that I am so close I might as well push through and sleep all weekend.

On both Sunday and Monday I did two classes each day. I am pretty sure my grumpy morning vibe and terrible agonizing faces kept the instructor of Monday’s AM class steering clear of my side of the room. By mid-afternoon yesterday I was falling asleep at my desk, chin in my hand, head resting against my computer screen. It was a post-lunch sugar crash combined with a terrible dehydration headache. Two things I was hoping to get better at during this challenge were eating breakfast every morning and drinking the eight or ten glasses of water I should be drinking each day. Evidently I have failed at both.

I walked into the evening class after work and was met by Callie [one of Semperviva’s instructors] and her giant, beaming smile. “You are almost done Jenn!” she grinned.

Up until that moment I had planned on spending the class ‘meditating’ in Savasana (Corpse Pose) – the pose of total relaxation. Maybe it was Callie’s contagious energy before class, or perhaps a bit of my own ego taking over, but I managed to muster up a few more kilojoules of energy and flow through class alongside everyone else.

I spent the rest of the evening drinking glass after glass of water…and even managed to prepare a stew in my crock pot at 11:00pm, to spend the night dreaming sweet dreams of spices and simmering beef. At least I don’t have to cook now for a few nights.

So, with the final three days left, I have one class tonight, one tomorrow and two on Thursday. I need to go prepare my water-drinking, breakfast-eating strategy. Good luck to all those doing the challenge! I am really, really, really looking forward to the Thursday night wrap-up class.

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Forty Days of Yoga – Sorer than Sore

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”                                           Ovid(43BCE-c.17CE), Rome

Just as I was feeling all fabulous and like a brand new gal, I went to class and hit the wall. I did one plank, moved into downward dog and turned into Gumby. My shoulders were sore and weak and felt like they wouldn’t make it through one breathe, let alone four or five. Never have I used the relaxing, restful Child’s Pose more than on this night.

Chatting with Semperviva instructor Callie Gray after the class, she asked about my shoulders, saying that it looked like I was having a rough time. We came to the agreement that it was probably a combination of being worn out from all this new activity and having my shoulders scrunched up by my ears from carrying a whole whack of heavy groceries home the night before and from working eight hours a day hunched over a computer.

Like many people, I sometimes find it difficult to listen to my body and respond to it; instead pushing it to keep up with everything and everyone around me. I like that yoga is about the personal journey and finding acceptance for our own practice and imperfections. In this particular class my body needed rest, and I listened.

“Resting between asanas allows you to become more receptive in your yoga as it gives time for both your body and your mind to process the effects, whether physical, mental or emotional, of each movement. Rest in Child’s Pose after postures you find challenging, observing the flow of your breath, in and out.” – taken from 1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom; Liz Lark.

Semperviva Instructor Callie Gray, had some great advice for anyone practicing yoga, specifically to those participating in the Forty Day Challenge:

“Remember to take home the idea that everyone can do yoga. It doesn’t have to be a headstand. Know the accomplishment is the intention. We all know life throws its challenges. If you reach Day 16, Day 20 or Day 27 and that’s it, remember that reaching that point has been a step towards change. Hang on to that. We tend to look at the end goal, but the road is just as important.”

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