Marlaina’s 40 Days with CC YOGA Round 2

​I completed my second go at 40 days of Yoga in the best way possible, with a Tripod Training workshop! I could not have asked for a better way for the second time to officially ‘end’. It was a good transition to the next phase, the phase of constant practice in my life.

​I learned the first time to allow myself to relax into it. I may not have checked off all the boxes like I had the first time, but what I did was commit again to myself, to my purpose, to what I wanted out of this second try. I allowed myself and forgave myself when a meditation was missed, or the daily journaling was forgotten, or even when I neglected to record my food for a day (or 3).

​This time wasn’t about just completing, it was about opening up to the possibilities that were present. This time was still my choice, I was the one holding myself up to accountability. I scaled back on the meditation, picked up fresh fruit and vegetables to go with dinner, and even had ice cream for dessert, without adding a negative judgement to what I was doing. I answered all of the journaling questions and even went beyond. I wrote about my life, sometimes the impact of this yoga journey and sometimes just about my girls, like when they played hair stylist with real scissors. I can’t lie, it upset me. I let in the feeling, and then I let it go. That was a new thing for me, I tend to let thing fester and sit with me and hardly ever let anything go. In the 40 Days book, Baron talks about how if you can laugh about something in the future, you should be able to laugh about it now. And I did. It was an eye opener. It is ok to feel emotions and it is equally ok to let them go.

My practices have gotten easier to attend. The last few weeks I have been able to go 5 to 6 times a week to an actual class, but I know that even if I hadn’t, my feet would be finding my mat at home. I would be practicing with the book, with one of Brittany’s podcasts or Youtube videos. I am not going to lie, there have been times partway through a practice when the thought “Why are you doing this to yourself?” has passed in my head. Within a minute of that question, I do something I haven’t been able to do before, like touch my forward to my shin in forward fold, or hold crow pose for 3 whole seconds.

I am able to not only see my improvements, but to tell that voice, I am doing it because I want to. At the end of every practice, I feel so much better than I had even an hour before. I feel much more alive and open to what comes my way. That is why I am doing it. That is why I will continue.

Marlainais a Container Collective Yogi/student.  She is a stay at home mother who also represents Usborne Books and More as an independent consultant.  Marlaina is from Utah but has lived in Kansas and now resides in Colorado.  She and her husband, Heath, have two beautiful children.