Day 36 – Yoga Challenge

 — Debrief …

Today we had a special debrief  session, looking at the likes and dislikes of the 40 Yoga Challenge. This debrief helped shape the possibilities of future Yoga Challenges.

Jen liked:

• karma yoga (being more proactively engaged in the wider community)
• dietary changes (cutting out meat, refined and processed foods)
• 2 hours of silence and mindfulness meditation

Jen found challenging:

• The extra time and money needed to organise and maintain a sattvic diet within a family

Maree liked:

• Eating no meat, or refined flour, sugar or processed foods
• Finding sugar replacements
• karma yoga (being more proactively engaged in the wider community)
• Journaling and keeping a record of day to day events

Maree found challenging:

• Having to do yoga daily, on top of working and running a family

Annabelle liked:

• The group support, and social environment
• The fact that members of our yoga community worked collectively

Annabelle found challenging:

• Karma yoga (being proactively engaged in the wider community)
• Taking time to be silent and introspective for a two hour session

Terese liked:

• Everything!

Terese found challenging:

• Silence and stillness for meditation

Andy liked:

• The company of Challenge participants
• Taking time to be self-viewing
• The rule-based element of the Challenge

Ali liked:

• The collective social environment within our yoga community
• Helping others learn about the discipline involved in leading a yogic lifestyle

Ali found challenging:

• The mundane reality of being a yogini in suburbia
• Working 40 days straight
• Keeping up with the yoga journal on top of writing/ organising blog posts

All our super yogis agreed that this sort of immersion would work much better in a retreat or ashram environment. Maybe in the future we will run this sort of programme again in a lodge or accommodation somewhere more natural, whether in  New Zealand, Thailand, or India

As a side note: deposits collected from Challenge participants (who strayed a little off path) has gone toward provisions for Ali’s Guru’ji’s ashram, in the rural outskirts of Mathura/ India. With some karma yoga, planting and gardening the Barsana Ashram is an ideal place for future yoga immersion.