It really does feel like I'm coasting to the finish line. A mere 31 days to go. When I started, 731 days seemed like an eternity, and when I was struggling with my practice, it seemed even longer. Around the 500 Day mark, the challenge became easy. A number of Art of Living teachers had told me that there comes a point where discipline is no longer required; the practice just happens effortlessly. To be honest, after years of struggling, I didn't believe them. I thought "Yeh, maybe for some people, but I'm different – it'll always be a grind."

If you're struggling with consistency, know this: all you have to do is find the root cause of the feelings of resistance. Once you find that, you're home free. That's what happened to me around day 500. I realised that delaying my practice through the day led to a build up of a feeling of resistance to daily Sudarshan Kriya. That feeling became stronger and stronger until I finally gave in. Once that was apparent, all I had to do was make a habit of doing the Kriya first thing in the morning; just get up and do it, no questions asked. No resistance... leads to long-term persistence!

The other thing I've found is that those that "know" were right about another thing. Kriya on its own is not enough. Although this is a very subjective analysis, the Kriya seems to put the nervous system into a state of relaxed alertness. Once you're in that state, it becomes easier to practise the other aspects of the path of yoga; self study, service, etc.

See you in 31 days :)