Forecast a day of rest

The Yama Yoga Challenge – 

Tip 1:  Forecast your day of rest.

As you begin the 40 day challenge begin by setting a schedule.  For strong and motivating practices visit the studio whenever you can.  For the days you simple can not get there do a home practice.  Five to ten minutes still counts – just as long as you do something.  Regardless of if you are at the studio or at home  make one day a week a restorative restful session.  For ladies Yama Yoga offers a gentle yoga class on Sunday nights at 7:15 but if you can’t make this it is easy to practice at home.

Check the out the following links for more information on restorative yoga.

http://www.yogaandpilatestips.com/what-is-restorative-yoga/

http://www.yogaandpilatestips.com/restorative-yoga-the-relaxation-response/

http://www.dorestorativeyoga.com/poses.html

And for some video tips look at these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6So0DFtOkM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYzQHB_Czl0

These are just some random examples – there are many others.

Oil baths

If you are practicing very strongly for 6 days a week (especially those practicing astanga) a castor oil or almond oil bath is the recommended alternative to the day of restorative yoga.   There are many many benefits of Castor Oil and again proper attention to a Castor Oil bath or Castor Oil massage counts as a day of practice.

For more information on this see

http://elephantbeans.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/pamper-yourself-diy-castor-oil-bath/  or any castor oil bath reference on the web site.

Good luck in your preparations.

Namaste

The Yama Yoga Challenge

The Yama Yoga Challenge
40 days of Practice for Personal Renewal and Transformation.
“Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.”

It is said that the ancients used to divide their year into 9 parts of 40, and that 40 was a sacred number, a number for renewal and transformation, a number for the waiting and testing before completion. Stories from many traditions and cultures celebrate this number. We hear of 40 days a...nd 40 nights of rain, of the 40 years in the desert, and the 40 days of fasting of Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed (May peace by upon him.) 40 years is the age of maturity, the days for which we mourn, the time for which a new born stays inside. In yoga we also say that it takes 40 days to fully change a habit and that we renew ourselves entirely on a cellular level over a 40 day period. A 40 day commitment to practice is a commitment to change and renewal and personal transformation.

The Yama Yoga Challenge challenges you to make this commitment to 40 days of practice. We will support you in this as we can. A discounted class package will be supplemented by home practice guides for the days that you simply can not make it to a class and you will be part of a community of other yogis and yoga teachers all committed to the same practice. The practice of yoga for 40 consecutive days will detox and strengthen you in every way. It will solidify yoga in your life and move you to a much deeper place with your practice. Start where you are with you practice and come and join us for 40 days – lets see where is takes us together.

The Yoga Challenge starts May 1 and will run to June 9th.


I will start to post practice ideas and encouragement from all of our teachers here as well as on our twitter and facebook - both our Yama Yoga Group and our Yama Yoga Challenge Grouup

We recommend a combination of classes at the studio and home practices.

To help you in this we have unlimited yoga class packages available:

Ritz for 40 days unlimited - 1800 QAR
Garvey’s for 40 days unlimited – 1500 QAR
(Workshops not included in this price.)

So the countdown is on.  Three days till it all beings.  Lets see where it takes us.


Namaste