Yoga Challenge, Day 30 - DONE!

I did it! Thirty classes in thirty days - or actually, thirty one classes in thirty days, because I decided to consider last Tuesday's third class as a bonus. :)

During that time, I also did seven spinning classes - including last night's, which involved a four-minute, an eight-minute, and a twelve-minute climb.

The whole point was to fit yoga into my regular life, without sacrificing too much of anything else. And I did it! The only time I missed a workout without making it up was the time there was a massive subway delay on my way to my spin class, and it took me an hour to go two stops. Other than that, I did everything as scheduled.

Whatever else I am, I am strong, and fit, and a whole lot bendier than I was thirty days ago!

Here's the rundown on the rules:

~30 classes in 30 days - done. Plus a bonus class, and of course all that spinning. :)

~Each program at least twice, and no more than three times - done.

~Long video (45 or 60 minutes) at least once a week - done. And that's not including my lunchtime sessions at work, which are also 45 minutes or so. I'm giving myself a bonus here too, since I did a long session at home the one day that lunchtime yoga was cancelled. So I actually did the long programs twice a week, every week.

~No more than one missed/made up session per week - nope. I did my best, and was fine Monday through Friday, but weekends were a bit of a struggle. I only missed (and then made up) four sessions through the whole program, so I did not too badly, but they did happen more than once a week sometimes.

~Blog at least once a week - done. I was definitely more enthusiastic towards the beginning than the end, but I did get it in at least once every week. Next time, I may up the ante a bit, and aim for twice a week instead.

So basically, I exceeded my own expecatations in every area except the missed/made up part. I'm very pleased with myself, I think I've really accomplished something here.

I'm going to keep it up, too. Tomorrow, I'm going to treat myself to one full day of no yoga. Although we'll see if it ends up being a treat - I might really want to do it! I find myself waking up a few minutes before six o'clock most mornings anyway, ready to get up and stretch. So I may have to treat myself to something like "doing whatever my body wants to do, even if it involves waking up early." :) Then I'll make sure I do one on Friday, and one this weekend, and I'm going to start this challenge on Monday with my good friend PZippy.

I'm looking forward to this one - it's going to be a whole different experience. For one thing, you're not expected to practice every single day. The goal here is to create an intention, and and to practice mindfulness every day, even if you don't practice yoga every day. Also, the physical practice is the same every day throughout the month - this is to give you time to really learn the poses, and to work on them at your own pace as you become more familiar with them. The goal is (eventually) to turn off the DVD and experiment with holding poses longer, more repetitions, whatever makes you feel good. That will be interesting for me - as I said earlier, I'm very externally motivated, and tend to feel that I need to follow the instructions exactly. So it will be good for me to expand my mental horizons as well.

Onward and...well, not upward exactly. Maybe onward and downward, as in downward dog. :) Definitely going onward, in any case!

~namaste~