It seems I love a good challenge. The day after finishing my 21 day meditation challenge, I realized something: I like a little bit of structure, at least one thing in my life that is pushing me to commit. I can’t have all of life be that way. It would be too restrictive, but in one place it gives me the right amount of motivation to keep me enthused.

This next challenge was born from my 21 days of meditation. It’s based off an insight about the way i’m living life, too inside my own head unaware of my body and the vital connection I’m missing with it. My physical body has been a point of frustration. I was in a car accident at the start of the year, and since then my back has been in pain. Six months later, and I can’t do simple things without aggravating it, even sitting too long hurts. It’s made me disconnect from my body. I’m hard on it. I want it to do more.

Accept your body and where you’re at

I also want it to be different. Longer, more slender and chiseled in certain places, the list goes on. I haven’t felt this way in a long time. I used to be painfully hard on my body. I used to fight the way it looked tooth and nail. So when I woke up on day 22, without a plan and a way to connect, I decided yoga for a month would be the perfect way. I also googled a journaling prompt online because I missed that component of my 21 day morning meditation and exercise ritual. And then, I didn’t think about it more, didn’t talk myself out of it, didn’t give myself a moment to doubt if I’d do it. I committed.

So far, I’ve discovered a better way to sit without hurting my back. I’ve discovered there are certain muscles that haven’t been moved in months. I’ve discovered the wonderful feeling of coming home to my body, connecting to the self, my self, in a way I haven’t been able to.

I also very much enjoyed hearing the distinction a yoga teacher made during one of my classes this week: she said, “skill set does not a yogi make… it’s deepening our relationship to the self that encompasses an evolving practice.” It made me feel so good to be reminded of that. I’m not a master yogi. I don’t do headstands. My feet don’t touch the floor when i’m in downward dog, BUT my love and enthusiasm when i’m practicing yoga is real. I forgot how good I feel when I do it. Why do I forget the things that are so good for me? Why do I procrastinate and throw aside that which I know makes me feel revitalized? I don’t know why. It seems like human nature to forget to eat your veggies, to drop meditation when it starts to feel good, cuz maybe we don’t need it, but we do. We need these self healing practices. I need this self healing practice.

Do something good for yourself today.