Master Yoda : Do. Or do not. There is no try.
Master Yoga : Try, not do. There is only try
For someone who is a fan of Yo(d,g)a this is like being in the twilight zone.
One is dealing with the willingness to start something and the other deals with a continous process where it takes a long long time to see results.
As most of you know, I had signed up for another 60 day challenge at BYSJ three months ago. No one at home really wanted me to sign up during summer as they knew our social calendar was busy and they told me upfront... "no doubles". They were also trying to give me a reality check saying "you are going to miss three weeks to three different international trips. what are you thinking?"
It was not that they thought doing two classes in one day was tough for me. They could not spare close to 4 hours a day of my time on the weekends I was here.
Having signed up, used sticker time and conversations with friends to do the best I could. Would do yoga in the morning and catch international flights, would come back after being awake for 36 hours to do yoga, go anytime possible during days I was here.. there is a long list. But in the last 10 days, it became clear, that no amount of doubles could play catch up. So it was 46/60 this time.
We went to the Challenge party to listen to inspirational stories of those who finished. Folks dealing with early alzhimers, brain surgery recovery, doing it as a birthday present for their spouse, signing up to encourage friends, covering the challenge over 7 different studios and last but not least, a teacher who has been doing Bikram yoga once a day for the last 6 years without a break! It was a truly humbling experience for me and the kids listening to these stories.
Jr. came home and said "I would like to write a guest post on your blog about how the 60 day challenge is actually stressfull for the persons who live with the person who does the challenge.. it is like you are one of those guys who drinks alcohol and they cannot stop drinking.. you go to one class, then you have to keep going.. and we have to see you spend more time at yoga on weekends".
I promised my kids that the best lesson from this Challenge and the party was different from the previous ones.
- learned to accept that sometimes you finish challenges and sometimes you do not. Trying makes all the difference. if you can look in that mirror and say "I gave it all I got" and can accept yourself, that is a big deal. the person in the mirror is the most unforgiving of the lot.
- there is always another challenge coming
- did spend time with the kids on the last two weekends doing only one class a day instead of trying doubles. It was a conscious choice and the right one.
The challenge from my own family has been to do at least 200 classes a year. Have 33 more to go this year. The last 90 days of this year has many more trips, holidays, festivals, school events etc. in the offing. We will see if the 200/year challenge is a success.
One other thing to mention. After coming back from those long flights, I used to walk into the yoga room feeling like the Ra character in Stargate who keeps getting younger after going into a special chamber, or those assasins in the "Wanted" movie who would be all shot up, go lie in a bath of molten waxy stuff and magically wake up with all their wounds healed.
Hot yoga is like soaking in a bath of Iodex (we used to use it for pain relief as kids in India.. it is Bengay and Voltaren all mixed in one) for 90 minutes. Came out feeling a lot better than when going into the room on every occasion.
That has been the one constant in an otherwise varying educational journey. Every day is different, but always felt better after class than before!
A heartfelt congratulations to everyone who finished the Challenge! Will see you at sticker time on the next one.
Eventually, there will come a time where I can stick to a schedule and do Yoga everyday. Eventually....
