I did it!

And I finished with a bang.

To close out the maha challenge, I decided to take a couple of workshops. That means three hours last night and two and a half hours this morning (classes are usually an hour or hour and a half). There is a special guest instructor, Noah Maze, who used to teach at the studio but moved to L.A. but who is visiting and teaching these workshops all weekend.

A month ago, three hours of yoga probably would have killed me.

Not that it was easy last night or this morning, but the change truly is profound.

And that's not the only reason the experience has been profoundly transformative. It's true that I'm stronger and more flexible than I was 30 days ago. But I also have more clarity of thought, more joy in my attitude and less stress in my life.

Noah talked a lot last night and this morning about how our innate state is perfection, it's not something we strive for because we're already there. And the divine is in everything around us, not just the things we think ("it's in the compost heap and the vegetable garden"). There was much more, but admittedly I'm still a little foggy after the whole experience. I anticipate clarity will return over the next few days.

So I've done it. I challenged myself and I stepped up to that challenge. I started a new year and a new job by upping the physical and emotional ante. These were perhaps higher stakes in retrospect than I was willing to recognize throughout the 30 days. I know it sounds cliche, but I do really feel like a whole new person.

I'll be going to tomorrow night's Kirtan to join in the maha celebration and receive my T-shirt. You should join me to help me celebrate my prodigious accomplishment.

Labels: personal, yoga