six lessons from that time I did 30 yoga classes in 30 days.

Yesterday I did my first hot yoga class in eight days.

During those eight days, I practiced once (a hatha/yin class) but it was at my gym, not the downtown studio I frequent. In fact, I didn't go downtown at all during those eight days.

It wasn't an accident or the result of being busy. It was a decision I made intentionally when I left the studio on March 2 after completing my first 30 day challenge.

The concept of the 30 day challenge is pretty simple: 30 practices in 30 days. The studio I go to hosts these challenges on a semi-regular basis but I've always had a reason to not commit to it, the biggest one being work. The hours at the studio don't always work with my job, working the weekend shift is basically like being on call, etc.

But when January rolled around and the sign up sheet for the next challenge came out, I really felt like it was something I had to do so I signed up before I could change my mind.
And somehow, I managed to make it work. It wasn't easy - coming into the last week of the challenge, I had a lot of classes to make up, my skin and hair were freaking out from spending hours at a time in the hot room to catch up and all my body wanted to do was rest.

So, as my partner and I drove to Moncton after that last class, I made a decision to give my body what it was asking for while taking some time to reflect on the challenge.

What I learned from the 30 day challenge.

I really love BodyJam

BodyJam 67 - DeathJam. So. Much. Fun.

The toughest part of the challenge for me was when I realized, coming into the last week of the challenge, I had to do 11 classes in six days. Not only did that mean spending up to two hours in the hot room at a time some nights, it meant skipping the one other class I kept doing throughout the challenge - BodyJam.

BodyJam is easily my favourite group exercise class. After a truly terrible experience with BodyStep, I decided to try Jam on a whim one night a couple years ago and I've been going regularly ever since. What I like about Jam is there's no right or wrong - it's all about having fun so it's accessible at any skill level. Going to Jam regularly has given me a lot more confidence and my co-ordination has improved a lot, too (which made my subsequent BodyStep experiences positive ones).

Missing Jam to make up classes sucked. Although I've never left my mat thinking 'Man, I sure wish I hadn't gone to that yoga class!' there was a part of me that would have rather been dancing. Also, there were a couple times when I had to fit a practice in AFTER Jam and those classes were physically challenging.

I like variety when it comes to fitness

I didn't miss any other activity I do regularly the way I missed BodyJam when I skipped it for a yoga class, but I can say the thing I found myself looking forward to most coming into the last days of the challenge was re-integrated other classes into my routine. As I mentioned above, I decided early in the challenge that once it was finished, I would take a few days off to relax before getting back into it, so the next step will be figuring out what I want to do for fitness. I'm not totally sure what it will look like yet, but I do know it will involve a better mix of cardio/strength/flexibility.

It's OK to 'take it easy' sometimes

Listen to your body and take rest/water when you need it - these are the instructions given at the start of every class at the hot studio where I practice but I didn't really think too much of them until the challenge.

There were nights when, after an hour and a half of practice, there was no way I was going to be able to kick back in dancer or get to the depth of my lunge in warrior two. There were times when 'moving through one last flow on your own breath' was 'remain in downward dog.' And there were times when staying for 'five extra breaths' in savasana at the end of class just wasn't going to be possible.

I like being able to push and challenge myself so not being able to go my edge every class was a challenge for me. But it was also humbling and helped me take that simple advice from the start of class seriously for the first time since I started practicing three years ago.

Another fine example of "listening to your body and taking rest when you need it" happened the night I intentionally skipped a class in favour of reading in the bath. 

Big improvements happen when you let go of your ego

Back in the fall, an instructor I didn't have a lot of previous exposure to made an observation that changed a lot of things about my practice. It was a small, evening class, maybe eight or 10 people in the room, and we were going through a series of flows - downward dog, plank, chaturanga, upward facing dog. Three flows in, the instructor approached and quietly offered the advice to work from the knees and flow into cobra instead of upward facing dog.

In other words, take a modified flow instead of a full flow.

At this point, I had been practicing yoga regularly for more than three years and I'll admit it: at first I was a bit miffed by the suggestion. To me, choosing a modified option was choosing an easier option. Not to mention it seemed odd to me that in three years, no other instructor had ever suggested that might be a better option for me. Why would I listen to an instructor I'd taken a grand total of like, two classes with?

Yeah, talk about stubborn, ego-fueled thinking.

Between talking to the instructor after class about the suggestion and my own reading on the subject after class, her suggestion was absolutely the right one to make for me because, as it turned out, I had  actually been doing chaturanga wrong for YEARS without knowing it. Downward dog, plank and upward facing dog were easy enough for me, but I did not (and still do not) have the upper body strength to properly do chaturanga.

But practicing a modified flow can help me get there some day.

I've been doing modified flows instead of full flows for months now and I've noticed a big difference as a result. I'm still not ready for the full flow yet but my transitions have become much cleaner, much more fluid. And honestly, if you're doing a modified flow properly? It's not an 'easier' option - physically or for the ego. Remembering easy doesn't really exist when it comes to yoga was important for me during the challenge.

Excuses are just that.

I did not think I could do a 30 day challenge. My job is unpredictable and my schedule often conflicts with the hours at the studio.  Some days, the only class I would be able to make it to was one I 'couldn't' do (like a flow class); some nights, the roads would be terrible because winter in New Brunswick sucks like that and I don't like driving when it's terrible out.

These were the reasons I gave myself for not participating in challenges in the past and I was ready to apply them again this time...until the charts went up and I started questioning:

Sure, the hours at the studio don't always line up with my schedule, but if I combined my hot studio practice with my regular hatha/yin practice at the gym, could I fit in 30 hours?

Yeah, a flow class would be challenging, but I've been doing Moksha for about a year. My body could probably handle it and it might be good to add some variety to my practice.

Driving in the winter sucks, but it's not like I live far from the studio (and if all else fails, my partner could likely drive me down).

My job is unpredictable, but I cannot let that rule my life. I love my job but I am not my job. 

That's not to say these things didn't have an impact on the challenge once it started but it felt a lot better living in a world governed by things that were happened instead of things that could happen.

It's OK to take time for myself 

Considering the incredibly social nature of my job, people are always surprised by how much I like my solitude. When I'm not working, I can be very selfish with my personal time, to an extent that I often feel kind of bad about it.

During my hatha/yin classes, the instructor always starts the class by saying 'the next hour is all about you' before encouraging us to forget about the rest of the day and be present - something I struggle with daily while trying to balance everything.

Reaching the last week of the 30 day challenge with so many classes to catch up forced me to take the time I needed for myself to accomplish the goal I had set - to recognize that goal as important and to do what needs to be done to achieve it understanding there's nothing selfish about having personal goals that require time and attention to achieve. This was easily the most important lesson of the whole challenge for me.

There's probably more I could have said about the challenge, but I think this covers the most important points. I don't really write posts like this, preferring to focus more on faith and stories and all that, but yoga is a pretty big part of my daily/spiritual life and actually completing a 30 day challenge was a big deal for me so I figured it was worth noting.