HellsBelle

Update: Oh. My. Gosh! I just caught up on the replies to my thread and feel very warm and fuzzy from all the kind replies! So great to see how many people here are keen to help out, and that we are all able to share the same goals! So this weekend was my birthday (25 woo!!), so I wasn't as diligent as I should have been. I only did 1 yoga practice from Thursday to Sunday . And I may have had some birthday cake that I know wasn't vegan! But irregardless of that, I still keep my intention at the front of my mind, and will continue to make decisions with it in mind. And I'm getting right back on the horse today with a soy coffee this morning, a green smoothie for the arvo and a yoga practice locked in! Over the weekend, in the one practice I did do, my teacher brought some really interesting intention into the dharma, and I have been reflecting on it ever since. You can only find the whole when you acknowledge that you are the whole. The things that stop us from reaching our whole self, exist when we don't acknowledge that we are the whole. For me, this is feeling like I don't have the perfect body. But my teacher raised a great point with this, in that I do have the perfect body already and by thinking that I don't, I am limiting my practice and my bliss. I have had a tight left hip my whole life, and it always prevents me from doing certain poses. But my teacher said that maybe a lot of that is just a manifestation in myself, that I THINK I can't do those poses, that my mind is stopping the practice and not my hip! I really believe that to get anywhere with our lives, we need to acknowledge that we are all students, all of the time. And unless we acknowledge all the teachers in our lives and in ourselves, we are closing ourselves to all the valuable lessons. So if we can't appreciate the wholeness of ourselves, we are closing ourselves of the lessons within us! So this week, I'm going to be focusing my practices on acknowledging myself as the whole, complete package! And this is the hardest task ever! Aren't we all struggling to do this all of the time? But I think that if I can work on doing this through my yoga practice, maybe for a fleeting moment, I will feel totally whole in myself and in the universe, and I won't be bothered with the chattering thoughts in my head that prevent bliss! Have I been ranting??? Maybe a bit haha. I hope I can help inspire some of you guys as much I was inspired over the weekend! Namaste x

Day 4 update: In my yoga practice this week, I have been focusing on the following Sutra from Pantajali: The greatest obstacle to the practice is one’s own prejudices 
based on one’s own preferences This Sutra seems so timely to me at the moment, especially embarking on the next 6 weeks! I am happy to admit that alot of yoga practices have been missed because of my own preferences. Whether it's because I feel tired, I can't be bothered rushing to get there, or I just want to go home and watch TV, the reason is never often because of outside forces preventing me. So I have been using this mantra to stay on track. So I am going to use this Sutra to power my intention to do yoga everyday! So if it means that I can't leave work, then I will do yoga at home for 20 minutes. And committing to a time on the weekend to get to yoga, irregardless of what I'm doing! I'm also going to use this Sutra during my practice. If I feel like I'm not doing the best I can possibly do in a practice, based on my own prejudices against a pose, I'm going to ignore those preferences and do the pose anyway! With time and practice, hopefully the meaning of this sutra will seep into the rest of my life! - Namaste

Hey Nightsparrow! I know what you mean about being disciplined to be vegan! The world really doesn't want to help you out when trying to avoid animal products. I go to yoga classes, but over Christmas, I lost all my ability. So I just started doing heaps of videos on Youtube at home to get my strength back. It can make such a difference doing it at home, because I find I get the same benefits, but was less pressure! I'm about to start reading Bright Lights, Big City. What about yourself?

Hey fellow Druids! This is my first challenge, and I'm really excited about it! I have never been very good at goal setting, so I'm curious to see how things change after this challenge. I've been interested in getting involved with the challenge for a while, and have read the Druid boards plenty in the past, so I have always felt aligned with this guild. The last couple of years have been a pretty crazy journey of discovering a different person within myself, both physically and mentally. I've had all the ups and downs, from discovering fitness and healthy eating, losing weight and developing good habits, to losing the habits and putting the weight back on! A year ago, I discovered a passion for yoga and veganism, and replaced all my other exercise with a regualar yoga practice and vegan diet. This allowed me to find a new sense of presence that I didn't realise I was missing before! But in the last 4 or 5 months, I have really lost alot of momentum that I had been directing towards my yoga practice. Enter: the 6 week challenge! I want to use this challenge as a way to reinstate a daily yoga practice, not just physically but also mentally. Here goes with my goals: Main goal: To be active, healthy and present! Body goals: 1. To practice yoga in some form every single day! 2. To walk for at least 30 minutes everyday. 3. Have a vegan diet everyday of the next 6 weeks. Life goals: Read at least 1 book and start a 2nd book in the next six weeks! The big reason that I feel off the wagon recently was because of a job I started last August. It can pretty stressful, but also very social, so I want to use this as an opportunity to put my yoga first and find the best way to have both my job and yoga work seamlessly together. If, by the end of the six weeks, I have practiced every day, then I'll consider this a huge success! I would LOVE to hear anyone's (positive) thoughts! I love talking yoga, and don't get to do it enough! Would love to talk to other members that have a demanding full time job and how they keep the yoga balance. Lots of love, Belle!

This is my first 6 week challenge and I'm looking forward to joining the Druids!