What are the benefits of a 30-day challenge

Hi Edge

😆 I couldn’t help but laugh! Especially the warning…

Re pooping: Well, you must be pleased that everything is in tip top shape and working well. It sounds like the body-cleansing reputation that Bikram Yoga has is really quite evident and literal for you. And maybe it is also a great way to get in touch with and more intuitively connect with what your body needs.

I love the question: Why am I doing this? And you are asking me ;). Yep, I know the feeling. You turn up and your mind is the best saboteur trying to coerce you out of what is clearly the most fabulous thing. After all your body just keeps dragging you back there every day. Mind you, you have made a momentous commitment and honestly the hardest element to doing the challenge is going back every day, finding the time to get there NO MATTER WHAT life throws at you, no matter how many ‘valid’ excuses you can come up with. It is GETTING THERE THAT COUNTS. After that it seems easy (well you lose track of those things some time during your class as you willingly submit).

So what is the difference between 4 classes per week and going everyday?
There are so many reasons:
You are taming and quietening your mind. This moving meditation yields phenomenal results. And as meditation is a skill it can be practiced. Going everyday means more meditation and more opportunity to get in touch with yourself on deeper levels. I sometimes talk about yoga credits. And when you go often enough and for long enough you stack up your yoga credits. You can tell the difference they make when you can’t get to yoga or you find yourself in a stressful situation that you previously didn’t handle as well.

Going these 30 days without break teaches you endurance of course. Putting your body through it is easier than dragging that sometimes unwilling conscious part of your mind along. I mean, you have that conscious part that has made the commitment to go and you don’t want to betray that or let yourself down. But still there is that other part of your mind that is dreading going today for whatever reason. Anyone who as done any similar challenge goes through something like this. It is oh so totally normal.

You are learning how to explore your own limitless nature… how you can achieve anything despite the obstacles, despite the negativity that part of your conscious mind is throwing at you to sabotage you. But guess what? You are still there. You are winning.

Keep it up, not long to go…
Your progress is inspiring many readers, I assure you
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Edge

Well I am sure glad you got to re-frame the ‘pooping’ in a positive light for yourself.

Don’t you just feel healthier (if not a little inconvenienced :cheese: )?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi marinyogi

Congratulations on doing the challenge. Your results are good. I wish you felt better about them. I mean, you lost shape, and toned up. That is GREAT. :cheese:

Muscle is more dense than fat so it is common to put on some pounds. That is a surefire indication that you burned fat.

Feeling sad about your success must be disappointing for you. But if I may be a little provocative, let me say that you are possibly making some harsh judgments and you owe it to yourself to let it go and give yourself a break.

I did struggle with shape (notice I don’t say weight gain!) in the past (before Bikram Yoga). But I found that the moment I threw away the scales and started focusing on how I felt, and how my clothes felt and fit, and how my body toned, my life changed.

Maybe a re-frame on weight to shape could work for you too. Don’t be discouraged. The shape changes when it changes. And often it sneaks up on you. I know in the past, that when I am expecting it to happen I keep looking and looking and then one day all of a sudden I see the change. Incremental (physical and mental) change day by day can be hard to judge. And luckily with the mental benefits of this practice the physical stuff usually ends up being just the bonus to a sharper, clearer and calmer mind.

Is there anyone else out there who would feel encouraged by a similar result?

Hey, have you kept up the yoga since then? How many times a week do you go now? 7 a week is a bit hard to sustain, but can you manage 4 times?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Edge

Congrats on your current challenge. Did you notice that you posted on day 16 on your other challenge? :cheese:

You know what? I don’t believe in ascribing meaning to things that happen in the yoga room… well not when they are negative.

I imagine you are feeling delighted with your progress which seems to go beyond the physical.

Go ahead and program your mind for wonderful changes, allow them to happen, be receptive and be the observer! And CELEBRATE!!!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

That’s tough Bonmar!

Hopefully you’ll find peace at another studio soon.

Last night would have been Day 26. I didn’t make it to class.

Excuses? My car is barely working so I have to bum a ride, it was pouring rain, the classes way across town have been so packed, I felt like going out for dinner …

I will start up again once my new SmartCar gets here from France. It should be here by the end of November. I’ll remember, though, that even though the last class was packed I still had a fabulous class!

Hi BonMar

Strange how the mind works isn’t it? Comparing the marathon to the Bikram class and how you felt more likely to give up in the studio had me thinking too.

I wondered whether it has to do with the momentum of the marathon. You can let your mind wander, even fantasize as to how glorious that would feel finishing much sooner by taking the half marathon track, yet you keep on going. The instant that it takes to change your mind is gone in an umm, instant! :cheese: and you sail past the point and you literally move on. You are moving 100% of the time. Yet with the Bikram class you are in your poses and you come out of them. Generally you can keep your focus when your body is busy doing something. And I wonder whether in the moments BETWEEN the poses that you feel that tremendous urge to quit or lie down or leave the room or whatever other fantasy you are having at the time. I guess then too it could be about your ability to tie your poses together so it is one long set of poses with your Savasana treated as a pose instead of a ‘break’. I think this is why it can be so challenging. Keeping your focused state throughout the 90 minutes is a skill that not only takes time it is dependent on other factors too.

I think you are doing a wonderful and inspiring job to keep up your 30 day challenge. I can’t imagine there would be another instance that a studio has closed down giving the students one day notice. You could have used it as an excuse. But you didn’t. Go girl!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Your 46th day – wow! Way to go!

Can you please tell me how you got that nice picture on below your name? :bug:

Wow Natasha!
46 days is a wonderful achievement!

I was particularly happy to read of your observations about your increasing comfort and self-acceptance. It was just wonderful for you to notice this. I find that it is one of those elements of practice that most teachers don’t talk about (well at least not in my experience), but to me is one of the key benefits.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

I learned/realized something new today: If I just concentrate on my continuous breath I should be too busy to be getting frustrated or angry. Why is breathing so hard????

I learned/realized something new today: If I just concentrate on my continuous breath I should be too busy to be getting frustrated or angry. Why is breathing so hard????

Yes, I find really concentrating on breathing changes my practice quite a bit and the time just flies by, and makes the yoga so much easier.

Another thing that has changed my practice is immersing myself in Gabrielle’s fabulous Masterclass book. Thinking so much about the minute details of each pose and I just have a vague memory of wanting to run out of the room for some strange reason in what seems like another life!

I am now on day 21 of the 30 days challenge. So after the first 10 days I noticed more stamina. Now at day 20 or so I feel much more flexible. My hope is to gain more strength in the next 10 days to end the challenge at day 30 stronger. I gotta think that up to this point I am tired and have less strength, at least that is my excuse.