40 Days of Relaxation - Day 40

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 - Day 40

Well, I made it! 40 days of relaxation. I spoke with my sister yesterday and she wondered if I felt any different or if Dave noticed any difference in me. It's hard to tell. Dave thinks the added stress of blogging about the relaxation might have offset any benefits. He's right, it was stressful to be so accountable. But accountability was also the benefit. It kept me honest. Each day brought new challenges and with relaxation I was able to examine my resistance to giving myself this gift. Most days I enjoyed taking a break for relaxation. But I noticed that on my super busy days and on my nothing-to-do days I had more resistance to taking the time to do my practice.

A funny thing happened on the final day of my self-imposed challenge. I worked til about 4:45 pm and my knitting group was coming over at 7 pm and I had committed to making dinner too so I had to do a short relaxation. I tried a new Yoga Nidra mp3: Maureen Lewiston - Yoga Nidra. It was well led and lasted about 20-23 minutes which was the amount of time I thought I could spare. Interestingly, I found myself feeling a bit robbed. I wanted more relaxation. I hadn't really felt this before but I took it is a good sign. My body and mind needed to relax more and I was getting the message. So after my guided practice I continued to lay in my calm room for another 15 minutes or so, just settling in and being quiet. My timing worked out fine. I was able to make dinner, eat dinner and get ready for my knitting group all by 7 pm.

I'm curious to see if I will continue my practice. I think I will but I think it will change a bit. I probably won't practice everyday but I will remember that on my busy days I really do need to take some time out for relaxation.

Thank you to everyone who has followed along with me. Your support and comments are much appreciated. If anyone has a relaxation story to share I'd be happy to put it up as a guest post. Write to me at sara (at) dorestorativeyoga (dot) com.