40 Day Yoga Challenge Recap. | elephant journal

on Mar 10, 2010

40 Day Yoga Challenge Recap. ~ Lindsay Jean Thomson

“Breathe and all will be revealed, love and all will be healed. This is yoga.” – Seane Corne

As those of you who kept up with the 40 day yoga challenge on my site, Shanti Love Yoga, already know, my challenge didn’t go exactly as planned. My goal was to deepen my studies, to find new sources of inspiration and to connect with the yoga community. And I did! But I also went through a breakup and got sick…twice. Ironically, the initial challenge post was titled “40 Days to Freedom.” Sometimes you put things out into the universe without any idea of how the universe is going to give it back to you. Oh what a fine sense of humor this universe has!

So the challenge was more than I anticipated, but every experience is an opportunity to open your heart and expand your practice. I learned that the body sometimes holds truths the heart isn’t ready to recognize. And when it feels impossible you do the best you can and let go of the rest. My friends and fellow yogis offered their support and reminded me that it’s okay to feel what you feel. To get out of your head it helps to get into your body, to breathe. The 40 day challenge is over, but the practice continues and I thank the universe for that.

Let’s hear from the rest of you – how did your 40 days go? You too, Waylon!

“If you’re an alive body, no one can tell you how to experience the world. And no one can tell you what truth is, because you experience it for yourself. The body does not lie.” – Stanley Keleman

BIO:
Lindsay Jean Thomson breathes, loves and lives in beautiful San Francisco. She teaches yogasana around town and keeps a blog, shanti love yoga. Stop on by!

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we should live in this time now and have every minute of it / ~ Hemingway / A Moveable Feast

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elephantjournal says:

March 10, 2010 at 18:51

I did about four out of 40 days. I was a bad, lazy yogi boy.

Big love to you on finding more freedom, perhaps, that you asked for. Life and love are fun, sad, and full of !@#$%^&*(*&^%$#@! mystery.

Farnoosh says:

March 11, 2010 at 11:00

Bad lazy Waylon indeed. Don't you know what they say about Yoga and Sloth!

Well I didn't do your 40 day challenge (sorry I didn't hear about it) but I am on my own challenge of just Yoga Hour every day and after 11 days (some day 90 minutes, 1 day 2 hours, minimum 1 hour), I simply didn't find time (I was also going to the gym) so I picked it up again the next day but my problem is this: I strangely feel that the more I do yoga at home everyday, lately, the harder it is getting – perhaps because I am attaching so much expectation to the outcome.

Well, it wasn't meant to be easy and I keep forgetting that – but it wasn't a competition either. In fact, I am still trying to figure out what on earth it is this yoga that I love so much !

Elize says:

March 11, 2010 at 12:04

Lindsay, I am so grateful you initiated this challenge. I had several goals set for myself, and while I didn't meet each one of them, the important part for me was strengthening my commitment to daily practice. And this definitely happened. My heart goes out to you as you experience freedom in unexpected ways, yes, practice sees us through. Thank you for being a source of inspiration & yogic support!