One of the greatest feelings in the world is the feeling you get upon completion of Something. Anything. So I am beyond thrilled to have completed today the Bikram Yoga 30 Day Challenge. My personal goal was to do a class daily for 30 consecutive days and write a daily blog about the journey. And so on the 30th Day, I have completed 31 Bikram Yoga classes. One more than needed. I can't help myself for doing one more class than needed. Always the overachiever.
The main purpose of my daily blog has been to document the process, more for my benefit than anyone else's. It has been a surprising fringe benefit that so many of you have found inspiration in my daily words. I am forever grateful and profoundly humbled that you have chosen to share this journey with me.
As I mentioned on Day 1, I first did the 30 Day Challenge in 2004 so this is not my first go around. I wish I had documented in diary form that first Challenge because it would make for interesting comparisons. To say that this has been a challenge is to vastly underestimate the time commitment involved. But whatever sacrifices I have made to fit a daily Yoga practice and daily blog in, and they were many, have paled in comparison to all that this daily practice has given me.
The timing could not have been more perfect as we finish off 2011 and gear up for the New Year. In yesterday's class, the amazing instructor Kathryn, spoke about her favorite entertainer Michael Jackson. She vividly described one of MJ's concert rituals: A ritual I had never given much thought to. At the end of every concert, he would go center stage and throw his arms wide open...a symbolic gesture to let his fans know that his heart was wide open to them and that he was openly giving all his heart and love to the audience and in turn accepting and receiving all the love that was being sent back to him. She asked the class in the next posture which was Full Locust Pose/Poorna-Salabhasana to lift our arms up and open our hearts up in the same way that Michael Jackson used to. It was such a beautiful and enlightening moment that I almost wanted to cry. Because 30 days of Yoga has really opened my heart in every way. To all of you. To all of life. To all of the possibilities of a life connected to self and self reflection and a commitment to what is my ultimate life's purpose.
The questions I have received about my 30 Day journey have largely been limited to questions about the physical benefits of the practice. You will notice if you have been reading my daily blog that I've spent very little time talking about that because that has not really been the point of this Challenge. I will say, however, that physically I have made vast improvements in how I execute the postures. My posture is definitely more upright and many of my super tight areas have started to open up. I have a physically demanding job that requires me to execute repetitive movements all day and week. So YES, the Yoga has been great for my body. It's been a year where all that I do to my body has taken it's toll, so ending the year taking care of myself in a better way feels great!
It also just occurs to me as I'm writing this. Every year at this time, I always feel a profound sense of loss and pain. It was around this time in December of 2003 that my Mother entered the ICU for what would be her final few weeks. The Holidays are definitely not a favorite time of year for me. I didn't really fully understand this until now, but The Challenge came at exactly the right time. More importantly, as I write this, I'm having a major AHA moment as I realize the real reason for this Challenge.
Yoga is a productive way for me to grieve. It was my Mother's death in January of 2004 that led me to a Bikram Yoga practice and my first 30 Day Challenge. So it seems comforting, especially right now, to reconnect with my practice. They say everything has a time and a season. A beginning, a middle and an end. All that is now will cease to be. There really is only one "Now." 30 Days of Yoga has really taught me to appreciate the now and live in the moment. But it's also given me a place to acknowledge the grief and the loss and the pain.
The definition of Yoga that speaks the most to me is "Union". Union of Mind. Union of Body. Union of Spirit. In these 30 Days, I have found the perfect union. It has been many things. At times impossibly difficult and overwhelming and at times supremely satisfying and rewarding and most times it has been all those things simultaneously. Yin and Yang in perfect balance. It would not have been a Challenge without it. And I would not have wanted it to be any other way.
Namaste...
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