Yes, it's time for another challenge. For years, I've really struggled to be consistent with my asana1 practice. Actually, "consistent" is misleading... I've struggled to do any asanas at all. Why the struggle? Hard to say. Part of it is that there's always something else I'd rather be doing at the time. The other blocker is that my flexibility isn't great, and my ego prefers me to spend my time on things I'm "good" at!
So, with the 731 Kriya challenge in the bag, I'm going to turn my attention to getting consistent with my asana practice. I made the commitment while on the Sri Sri Yoga teacher training course in Taiwan (14th to 25th May, 2010). Despite taking it easy, my body ached all the way through, but my mind was quiet and so I actually enjoyed the asanas. That experience was a revelation.
My commitment will start on the 1st of June, will run for 1001 days without interruption, and will be as follows:
- Come what may, I'll do a contiguous sequence of daily asanas lasting a minimum of 40 minutes, finishing with an additional 5 minutes of Yoga Nidra (final relaxation). That's 45 minutes a day.
- Each day's sequence will cover all parts of the body. Some days, I might focus on one area at the expense of another. That being the case, I'll balance it out the next day.
- My only goal is to complete 1001 days without a break. Doing the asanas with 100% effort but without struggle or attachment to any goal, such as increasing flexibility.
OK... here goes!
1 Asana: A yoga posture.
Distribution of session durations:
Distribution of time of day:
Recently, I've been scanning old family photos and was delighted to find this early shot of me in the middle of my asana practice, at the tender age of 8 months.