21 in 29 Challenge with Anthony Principe

There is something incredibly humbling about standing on your toes to place a sticker next to your name and realizing that, thirty years after graduating from kindergarten, the thrill and sense of accomplishment has not waned.

February has come to pass and over the course of the month, hoisting 21 stars, the sticker board transformed from a simple chart to monitor progress in to a white monolith, akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Rather than bestowing the next phase in human consciousness, the board offered up epiphanies and internal truths through a consistent yoga practice. Here are three of mine.

One, showing up daily dissipates resistance. Slowly I built momentum and fell in to a rhythm that muted excuses and simplified the conversation in my head to a single sentence, “When you wake up, you go to yoga.”

Two, consistency maintains a level of depth in your practice. Not only was I able to return to a deeper place in the poses themselves, but it also cleared a path internally. Dreams came back to my conscious mind with vivid clarity and I was able to observe my actions and emotions from a different and objective point of view. I could critique my behavior and responses, salvage what was useful and understand why something was not. This made me more compassionate, patient, balanced and connected to Life.

Three, yoga isn’t so much about learning but remembering. There is a sense that deep inside, my body already knows and wants to move in these shapes, it just needs a little guidance. The further you go, something is illuminated and it’s like waking up from an amnesiac state.

It’s been so much fun to push myself and I can’t wait to see what happens next.