New year = a time to embrace transformation. In all honesty, maybe you don’t necessarily need a new calendar year to begin taking on something transformable, but seriously … what is it about January that just seems to hint at more promise?
I did my 2017 Mind Map, and in my “Health” category I wrote down specific goals I wanted to achieve this year. One of them was to complete a 40 Day Challenge at BIG Power Yoga. If you aren’t familiar with what it is:
This BIG Program is about being ….
someone who is reliable for going above and beyond what is ordinary and causing results that are extraordinary. It is about stretching yourself to your next levels of fulfillment, leadership, contribution, expression, and revolution. You’ll discover yourself as someone who is unstopped by the obstacles that make you want to settle. You’ll choose to stretch yourself in the face of challenge so you can cause real changes that alter your experience of yourself and the world. Join us for 40 Days of yoga, meditation, self-inquiry, mindful eating, and the power of community. Be ready for an adventure. Be ready to surprise yourself. Be ready to experience yourself as more powerful than ever before. Be ready to stretch yourself.
Requirements:
- Yoga practice 6 days a week
- One group meeting a week
- Daily Meditation
- Mindful eating
- Read “40 Days to Personal Revolution” by Baron Baptiste
I went to orientation this past Saturday night, where an opportunity was given to those of us who signed up to be part of The Challange to hear about the expectations, journey, and hurdles we’ll face. I promise it was uplifting! You’d be impressed the courage some of those in the audience had in sharing their views of their weaknesses … their undying commitment to a personal goal they have had for the past year and this 40 Day Challenge would get them that much closer to the home stretch … or, the admittance that this experience would give them the space to prove to themselves they are able to show up for them self first this time versus the opposite of putting them self last. You knew these goals came straight from the heart because voices cracked … pauses during speaking had to be made … and silence filled a room of 200 people, a stillness so every word could be heard and appreciated.
When that great question was posed, “Why are you participating in the 40 Day Challenge?”, I realized I wasn’t ready to answer full-heartedly at the time. So, I took that home with me and really put more thought to this. And, in the best interest of trying to keep myself accountable and reflective, here are the reasons I’m doing the 40 Day Challenge:
- I want to prove I can put myself first. I have signed up for this program 2 times already in the past 2 years and have given up both times early on. I allowed the busyness of my schedule to convince myself those things were more important, thus my time to “show up” for myself was secondary. This time around, I want to reverse this thinking and commit to putting myself first.
- I’m An Athlete, too! I may be stretching the purpose of yoga for many, but I do feel I get a physical challenge from it. I’ll even go far as to call it a sport. And, in my household, EVERYONE is participating in a sport … competing … driving themselves towards the next “challenge,” whether that be the next game – the next competition – the next race. And, a spiraling conversation occurred recently with my family where I was left standing, alone to defend myself, in that yoga is daring, challenging, and a sport. I received snickers and sly remark(s), and ultimately was deemed the one in the family who isn’t athletic and doesn’t do a sport. Well, here is an opportunity to show them differently. I hope to gain strength and lose 2% body fat in 40 days.
- Mind Wellness. For the past months, I have progressively been exposed to new knowledge on mindfulness, the importance of self-reflection, and the dimensional gain of meditation. In fact, my previous semester project in neuroplasticity was on the anatomical improvements to the neuro connections within the brain related to executive functions influencing reading comprehension in children who practiced meditative yoga. Without lending a thesis here, I will share the result(s) from meditation as it applies to the brain’s function and restorative health is exponentially great. And, just in case you’re wondering, the results were not agnostic to just children! The adult brain gains in two-fold when incorporating meditative activities on a daily basis. Therefore, this 40 Day Challenge is the opportunity for me to adopt mind wellness habits 🙂
It’s Monday morning, the first day of my 40 Day Challenge. I’m minutes away from walking out the door and embarking on this journey. I am excited to be sharing this and to be putting myself out there. I have also committed to taking one photo a day of me practicing … whether it be a yoga pose, my meditation space, or just with the new friends I know I’ll make. I hope you’ll enjoy my sharing along the way – and please feel free to join me, even if thru comments, as I take on each day. I’d love your support and spirit 🙂 OH .. and, Go Green Team! (I forgot to mention we’re broken out into teams and I am on the Green Team – lucky us … it’s the pantone color for 2017!!!)
A Color Pop Life 