The Beginning

Hello!
Welcome to my journey through the "40 Days to Personal Revolution". This program involves:

• a daily yoga practice
• diet cleansing and eating plan
• meditation
• changing your beliefs and patterns

I'm really excited to get started, and plan to start my 40 days on February 1st to allow myself enough time to prepare. Before I start I thought I would explain to you how I came to love yoga and why I decided to do this program.

My first experience with yoga was at age 19 at my local gym. They had a Hatha yoga class offered twice a week, and my friends and I would go most weeks. The class was taught by a 60 year old man, whom I was jealous of for his insane flexibility. Those of you who aren't too familiar with yoga, Hatha is a slower style more focused on breathing and meditation during your poses. It was challenging, and provided a great stretch, but I wasn't sold yet, I needed more. My friends and I would often get caught in giggle fits in the middle of class because it was so quiet and serious!
I didn't really practice for a few years while we were away in Calgary. When we moved back home, my friend Sean brought me to a hot yoga class at Power Yoga Canada (PYC). He had been bugging me for months to go to a class with him, and I finally ran out of excuses. I was so concerned with not being flexible enough, and not knowing what to expect. He said it didn't matter and to just come to a class and see for myself. I still remember it was a Monday night class 6:30pm with Pauline (a co-founder at PYC). She introduced herself before the class and explained that I just needed to follow along, do what I could, and she would show modifications for a beginner level throughout the class. By the end of the class I felt different. Not only had I sweat more than I had ever sweat in my life, but I felt so connected to my body and to my mind. Pauline made a comment in class about living your life off your mat, the same way to do on your mat. Challenge yourself, push yourself to your limit, you can do anything, you're stronger than you think. Now when I'm on my mat I let go of any expectations I have of myself and just set an intention to do the best that I can on that particular day. No two practices are the same for me, and this is something else I love about yoga.

After that class I started practicing 4-6 times a week. When we moved to Brampton and it was a 45 min drive to the PYC studio, I visited some studios closer to home, including Yoga Loft and Moksha Yoga Brampton. Yoga Loft offered some classes in the Baptiste power yoga style, which was nice. Moksha style is a lot different from power yoga in that it follows a sequence of about 40 poses, so it is generally the same each time. They do offer a power yoga class once a week as well. It's a different style than I'm used to but I do enjoy their studio and so this is where I practice now.

Me and my base (my friend Sean) at a partner yoga workshop at PYC

Why do the 40 days program myself when it is offered at a studio? Well first of all the closest PYC studio is about 45 mins away as I mentioned. It also costs $225+hst. I unfortunately do not have the luxury of practicing in a studio as often as I did when I began practicing. These reasons combined with other reasons in my life (like having a puppy who requires a lot of my time!) led me to the decision to try to do this on my own. I was lucky enough to get the 40 days book for Christmas and the rest is history.

Next up...the 12 Laws of Tranformation.

Namaste!

P.S. If you want to know more about me check out the "Yogi in Training" tab at the top of my blog.