30 Day Yoga Challenge

Join our new 30 Day YOGA & WELL BEING CHALLENGE 

Gain health, well being, energy

Hello and welcome to our WELL-BEING CHALLENGE.  Ali Hale Tilley, director of the NZ Yoga Centre, will kick start the next challenge to inspire you to get the most of your 2022 cleanse. You can join remotely from anywhere and get same the benefits as group practice. The overall challenge is FREE to participate. Scroll down for challenge updates and registration details.

CHALLENGE UPDATES

The 2020 Yoga Challenge includes 5 main parts: 

PART 1 –  Physical wellbeing cleanse  

1. 1. 1. Practice minimum 3 yoga sessions per week
         • You can do 2 of the 3 classes as home, online, or at another studio. However, one class per week must be our Sunday class, with an option for you to do a make-up class at a different time slot if required. Regular yoga practice brings radiant health benefits and is the basis of a deep system cleanse.
      2. Clean and declutter parts of your home, car, garden, or office
         • Unless you are a neat freak, there is sure to be one or more areas that need sorting out. Use this de-cluttering process to create more clear spaces in your environment, so you can feel more mentally at ease. 
      3. Do a deep body scrub once a week  
         • Mix salt or sugar with natural oils like olive or coconut oil. Removing dead skin cells from all over your body helps your skin breath and renew itself. 
      4. Set up a place for regular yoga and meditation practice
         • Find a place where dogs, goats, and kids can’t disturb you. Face your mat east in the morning and north in the evening. Return to this place for each session to increase your vibrational imprint.
      5. Avoid using chemical cleaning and beauty products – use natural products
         • Avoid artificial deodorants, chemical hair products, mineral oil based skin creams and cosmetics. Go online to get inspired by natural product recipes.  You can buy basic low-cost ingredients like aluminium-free baking soda, coconut oil, white vinegar, tea tree oil locally.

PART 2 – Nutritional cleanse

1.   Eat a pure vege diet using Ali’s 85+10+5% rule (no meat or eggs)
   • A pure vege diet is outlined in the post below. The food really tastes amazing and this way of eating allows you to be super healthy before the big Xmas binge.  We will share recipes on out private chat page. We will also come together for potluck feasts that were so inspiring and were the highlight of last year’s challenge.  Going plant-based is the way forward for a healthy planet.
2. Avoid all processed and refined foods, and read labels
   •  No white sugar, white flour, no biscuits, cakes, and slices. No deep fried chips, takeaways, or plastic wrapped food with more than 1 or 2 chemical numbers (additives, colours, flavours). No gelatine, which means no standard cream cheese or cottage cheese, Read every label and purchase accordingly.
3. Research and use well-balanced vegetarian recipes
   • There are so many amazing vegetarian and vegan cookbooks and articles, both online and in the local library. Tag the recipes that make each meal a mini feast and impress the doubters in your family with delicious nutritious fare.
4. Limit alcohol intake to 3 units a week (i.e. 3 classes wine or 3 beers)
   • Time to hang up your party shoes and go sober. Look for ‘virgin’ cocktail recipes online or in cooking books and have a jug of healthy refreshments ready to quench your thirst. You skin and organs will love a break!
5. Stop food dependencies and avoid eating all unhealthy foods
   • How are you going to handle cravings that come as a stress response to work, family dramas? Perhaps buy some sulphur-free dried fruits, organic berries, or 85% dark chocolate. Try chewing cardamom, fennel or caraway seeds. Make a small platter filled with fresh healthy produce. Get creative and get to know when and why you seek out unhealthy options.

PART 3 – Mental cleanse

1. 1. 1. Practice daily meditation (5 minutes minimum)
         • Sit in silence and watch your breath flow. Observe your thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. Check in and find a deep sense of inner peace. Focus your mind on one thing like the rising sun.
      2. Limit entertainment habits such as watching soaps and reading fiction (2 hours a night minimum)
         • Like junk food, junk entertainment is a distraction that pollutes the subconscious mind. If you need to be entertained to feel happy and preoccupied, put on instrumental music, read an autobiography, start a hobby like sewing or woodwork, or journal your inner feelings. Start s social group, join a book club… we are only limited by our imaginations.
      3. Observe your moods in relation to natural cycles
         • New moon, full moon, and planetary phases can impact how we feel. Check http://www.spaceweather.com to see what is happening with the sun’s cycles.  Check how you feel on a grey day as opposed to a clear day. Our moods are related to larger patterns of weather and plantary systems.
      4. Resolve negative mind-sets with self-reflection
         • Like meditation, self-reflection asks us to look in and experience our deep inner state. Does that idea scare you? Are you terrified of what is lurking in the mind’s shadows? Have a chat with the ‘universe’ or inner self and make friends with your shadow side. Ask yourself why do you feel a certain way? Document or mind map the outcome
      5. Establish  a weekly self-care ritual
         • Soak in a bath with essential oil, walk on the beach, light up your home shrine, dance naked in the moonlight, or sit by an outdoor fire. Create a ritual that nourishes you and allows you to feel more connected with the sacred energy that is all around.

PART 4 – Emotional cleanse

1. 1. Rise just before sunset
      • In the Southern Hemisphere the sun rises around 6 am. Check sunrise times and be prepared to leap out of bed when the alarm goes off. Set your alarm a minute earlier each day as the longest day approaches. 
   2. Write up a daily journal or a 100 word summary of the week
      • Keeping a journal helps keep you accountable and allows you to check in with how you are really feeling. Why not write a passage to read out at our potluck gatherings? Sharing our feelings in a safe space can help with our mental wellbeing. People do not have to read out what they write but you will be encouraged to share your experiences.
   3. Cleanse your personal space with incense, sage, or blessed water
      • Sometimes negative energy builds up around our homes, workplaces or cars. To cleanse this energy try sprinkling salt on the doorstep, light a bay leaf to clear the air, ring a bell to dispel tension, fill a spray bottle with filtered water and essential oil to spritz your space. Become a shaman with your own domain. Chant, sing, act!
   4. Avoid where possible toxic or emotionally draining people
      • If you are listening to someone for more than 3 minutes at a time without saying much, it is a monologue or a download, not a conversation.  If you find yourself in a place where someone is talking about themselves exclusively, about a situation that doesn’t really involve you, say something like ‘breaker, breaker’, or ‘can I jump in here’ … Try to invite conversation rather than be a vent for other people’s self-obsessions.
   5. Cut emotional chords and reroute relationships through the higher self
      • This is a powerful visualisation exercise. During the challenge period, cut psychic ties with anyone who continually drains your time and energy. Reestablish a new relationship  through the plane of the higher self by sending them positive thoughts. 

PART 5 – Spiritual cleanse 

1. Practice two hours of silence once a week
   • If family members or your thoughts won’t leave you in peace, find a place out of range, without cell phone, or any artificial noise, where you can sit or walk quietly and practice complete silence… not ear phones, no podcasts, no talk back … silence! Once you make a commitment to silence, it feels like a deep cleanse of the soul.
2. Practice forgiveness and acceptance 
   • People and problems can get under our skin. If we practice forgiveness and increase our compassion we can see ourselves and others in a different light. Accept that there are some things you cannot control. Rather than trying to control the actions of others, try controlling the flow or your breath instead.
3. Sit or walk in nature and silently observe colours, smells, sounds
   • Small children are enamored with nature. However, as adults, sometimes we lose that effervescent joy. Take your inner magical child on a play date. Find places where nature actively expresses itself and see how it lifts your spirit. Or go to an art gallery or museum and enjoy the experience of the senses
4. Do some devotional practices
   • If you are spiritual light a candle or incense and dedicate it to someone special. If you are atheist look up at the stars and try to find planets. If you are religious go to chapel, church or temple. If you are pagan create rituals that harmonize your world. How do you connect to that which is bigger than you? Make a ritual to celebrate the day.
5. Read spiritual or religious texts
   • Each day or even once a week, do a close reading of a spiritual chosen text and see what meaning it offers. These texts can spark inspiration for your own writing. Contemplate the power of the written word and dwell on the deeper meaning of what is said.

One of the most successful parts of the Challenge was the group chat on Facebook where we shared recipes, food ideas and words of encouragement with each other.

For example, here is Shirley’s Quinoa Salad – 1 cup basic cooked quinoa. 125gm cherry tomatoes, handful of baby spinach and handful of rocket, roughly chopped. 1/2 avocado sliced. 2 asparagus spears or 1/4 cup chopped broccoli, steamed. 1/2 cup chopped fresh berries, any kind. 2 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar. Combine together in bowl and toss lightly. Quantities can vary depending on how many you are feeding. Can also add herbs, spices, whatever you want. Enjoy.