Day 17 of 100 Days of Yoga; Getting Pulled up by the Hair

I have accepted a dare! Christine over at BlissChick issued a dare to her readers a couple of weeks ago.

Pick one thing to do every day for 100 days. Pick THE one thing that you know you should be doing or not doing but you’ve been avoiding it because it’s something you’re really attached to (or unattached to).

I had a long list of possibilities. Here is what I posted in BlissChick’s comments:

Yikes! What a challenge.

How, how, how do I narrow down my long list of self improvement possibilities to....
One Single Thing? I've been in deep contemplation since yesterday morning. Even though I teach yoga three times a week, my personal daily practice has been stagnating. Therefore, that is my first thought, to renew my dedication to yoga. But would that be something "Really Hard"?

There are so many things I could benefit from committing to for 100 days.

-stop picking at my fingernails and cuticles and take care of my messed up hands

-eat totally vegetarian

-recommit to walking 20 min. every day

-No Junk Food!!

-Stop swearing

-play guitar and sing

Well, I am still working on a decision. On Monday I will post my vow.
Pardon me, for taking up so much space in your comments section Christine.

Also coming Monday... my very own blog!!! There. I've publicly announced it. Now I will follow through.Thank you again for helping me to achieve it.
April 18, 2009 10:08 AM

I did things a little backwards, taking up the challenge and then starting my blog and now posting about the challenge- but I’m a do things differently kinda gal!

So to follow up now, I will tell you that I chose the daily yoga practice. I have just been feeling too much guilt over letting my personal practice slip away since I started facilitating yoga for others.

I also figured that those other things on my list above would be easier for me to work towards if I have a solid foundation of daily yoga in which to set my intentions for the day.

Here is a report of my routine and progress thus far:

• Every day I set my timer for 20 minutes first thing in the morning and take it to the mat.
• I light a candle.
• I sit quiet for a moment or two to just “get present”.
• My practice follows a Sivananda flow (watch for it in a future post).
• The timer ringing signals the end of my physical practice.
• I reset for another 10 minutes.
• I use this time to meditate and get quiet.
• I then focus on my intention for the day.
• I finish with a small chant or mantra which just raises my vibration and sets me on my way.
• I have been faithful to this for 17 days now.

Some days I feel I don’t have a full 30 minutes to dedicate to this practice. On those days I set my timer for 10 minutes of stretches and maintain my 10 minutes of meditation/intention setting. 20 minutes is better than nothing. That has only happened 2 or 3 times and I usually end up closer to the full 30 minutes when I am done because once I get started, IT IS HARD TO DO LESS!

That’s what I find so fascinating about this challenge. Getting started is more than half the battle. It reminds me of a quote I read in the sidebar of Yoga Diva’s Divine Life. The quote is by Vanda Scarvelli in which she says “ In the beginning you have to make room for yoga in your daily life and give it the place it deserves. But after some time, yoga itself will pull you up by the hair and make you do it!”