21 Days To Tranform Your Life- A Personal Journey

Why I Set Myself Challenges

Its the beginning of July 2017 I wrote this. It was the south of England and sweltering outside, and had been for days. I love the sunshine, to feel it on my face. to feel my breath, feel the air fill my lungs, feel alive and have the appreciation of having yet another lovely day.

I had also just completed day a 21-day online yoga challenge with the DailyOm, which I have set myself, and as I started to write this, I’m reminded of many summers ago…..

Why a 21-day challenge? Why did I set myself this goal and what do I hope to get by sharing it with you? And how is this memory coming forth?

Everything we do is connected and having some conscious awareness of who we are, what we want to achieve and how we get there can be the key to transforming your life. Many summers ago, just feeling the air in my lungs and the sun on my face was the only goal, it was the only goal I thought I could have for a while.

This is a personal journey of health and wellbeing that took through some of the most challenging aspects of my life.

First of all let me share my deep compassion for anyone that has experienced months or years of sickness, where you cannot get off the sofa and perform even the simplest of tasks.

20 years ago that was me. I went from tired and exhausted to barely surviving in a matter of months. I was a single mum raising two boys and overnight struggled to do the most basic things. I slept all night and for several years, most days, while they were at school. My social life was non-existent, and I just managed to complete my training and work part-time.

Previous to this I had been studying full time, doing voluntary work and was exercising four times a week in the gym. I could run and row for an hour then lift weights. It seemed that overnight all that drained away and life would never be the same again.

The Chronic fatigue lasted for about three years, and when I started to pick up, I started to go back to the gym but could only manage five minutes at a time. Anyone that has ever had a full life and very fit knows how this frustrating not being able to do anywhere as near as you could before.

Slowly I was able to get back into work and have the odd night out with friends. I was never able to regain what I was able to do in the gym. The events of these years lead me to explore many different healing methods, food, and nutrition, alternative therapies as well as the traditional methods of getting better.

About five years ago I took up yoga. My body felt so stiff and worn that the most basic of moves felt extremely challenging. But my intuition knew that this was one of the ways I would regain some fitness, my health, and wellbeing.

Two years ago I started Kundalini yoga and took to it immediately. I was now able to do several of the yoga poses and like the blend of meditation, chanting and energy work that composes this model. I also love the spirituality , philosophy and the science behind it.

During this time I was also noticing the effect that some food was having on me. Feeling tired and foggy by the end of the day, I also started to make alterations to my diet. Over the course of a year, I stopped eating most sweet things, reduced wheat products, didn’t like pizza or pasta much anyway and started to create my smoothies and herbal drinks.

I started to notice a positive effect of this on my energy levels and capacity to function more and more. A lot of my job is processing large amounts of complex information and managing risk , therefore being bright and mentally alert was crucial.

After a year or so of doing yoga, I set myself a challenge of one class a week and three stretches a day.I was aware that you don’t really get the benefit of a class by only attending once a week and there was still an accumulation of inflammation in my body, and I had noticed some of the benefits of going to yoga.

One class a week might seem a small amount, but anyone that has experienced fatigue, listlessness, lack of any motivation, where even breathing even feels hard work, knows that rolling off the sofa to even do a few stretches is a challenge.

I wanted to move from the mind-set of failing and feeling ill and set out to move beyond what was becoming my everyday life. I was resigned to a life of chronic illness.

Setting myself this target meant I could do it at home, fit it into any part of the day and feel a sense of achievement of having met my goal. Going back to the gym three to four times a week was out of the question. I had tried on several occasions and ended up with a virus and back in bed for days.

I’ve since learned about fatigue and post-training impact on the body. I was in a cycle of poor nutrition, fatigue, inflammation and poor mental habits – along with some possible hereditary factors that as I aged were coming into force. My dad was a diabetic, and my mum had lupus. The threat of inheriting family disease was strong and therefore played at the back of my mind.

I had to make the changes, and although the physio, healing, and homeopathy helped, no one could change it for me but myself. I wanted to feel life again and enjoy activities. I wanted to go out in the sunshine and not sleep all day. I wanted to feel the joy and happiness from going on adventures with my boys again and not feel I needed a week’s sleep after.

I managed to retain this target for a year. I started to feel the achievement and the benefits even more. My diet continued to change, and I became stronger, more flexible and began to learn how much I could do without stressing my body too much.

I was now working full time and was able to do more and develop a new social life. In 2015 a multitude of work stresses was starting to knock me back again. However, I was now listening to the law of attraction daily, doing regular meditation and then trained as a meditation teacher and nutritional therapist later 2015.

I learned a lot about how all the different aspects contributed to our mental health and wellbeing. I was passionate about helping others find ways, no matter how small to improve their day to day existence. I helped friends who kept telling me that they should really really get to the gym one day and encouraged them to use a similar approach to the one I had. It was only ever a starting point. A way for people to start believing in themselves after setting small goals and seeing the benefits quite quickly. Some people need small incremental steps; others can turn things around quickly.

I left my job last summer and continue to teach meditation classes and attend the yoga sessions twice a week. The benefits of the changes I made, meant that I had got my life back, but not the old one,but a new one that I had created. I still faced some stressors, but my tool box was plentiful, and I knew what helped keep me in check and my mind body and spirit in balance.

I started a new job at the end of the year and the transition has been tough as any stress reactivates my asthma response and the need to sleep but its only means a day in bed now and then and a slow down for the day or weekend. This year, I started to ponder the idea of teaching yoga but was unsure of whether I would be able to meet the demands that a teacher training course required. So I set myself the 21-day yoga challenge. I wanted to see if i could now exceed anything I had been able to do for years .

I would do the course which means that I do a minimum of 10 mins a day. Then at least I could now test myself further and find out what happened if I did the yoga daily. Maybe one day this would transform into a full-time activity.

The benefits of doing the yoga daily are a lot more than what I had anticipated.

Some earlier experiences last year was still in my body, I had tight muscles and still felt weak some days. Within seven days I noticed how my stiff back has gone, I felt stronger, and my muscles were getting looser. I also liked the feeling of having achieved some yoga practice every day. I did this mindfully of course and made sure that I reduced some of the other activities, as I was aware I might get fatigued. The possibility of training for this one day and having a studio or adding this to my retreats became a real possibility.

For some people who have also got chronic fatigue or other illnesses that debilitate them, there may be other approaches. There is no one size fits all, what I hope to gain from this is to inspire- one day at a time.

Many of us who have experienced something debilitating can find it hard to know how far to push ourselves mixed with an anxiety that something can knock us right back on track.

Anyone who understands the thyroid, adrenals and the impact of stress will also understand the complex processes at play and how the body can take a while to reset itself.

I was June 2017 when I started to really think about the transitions I had made over the years . Each day I feel blessed and enjoy getting out wind, rain or sun. I go for long walks, shopping or coffee with friends. The meditation and mindfulness helps me slow the world down and see the joy on people’s faces and enjoy the sensations of small things that activate my senses. And when I get that feeling, I listen to my body and just have a down day watching my favorite movies. Life is about balance. The meditation is what then led me to my new passion ,photography.

There are many gimmicks out there to get us the desired shape or feeling yet too many times I hear people stating all the different things they have tried. But what is it we are trying to do? What is the outcome we are looking for? Someone who is very sick in comparison to a fairly fit person will be looking for different outcomes. Also, there is now more and more research that shows overdoing exercise for some people can be detrimental, therefore knowing your own starting point and what you want to achieve is a good start, even if that means tiny steps.

All I wanted, was to be able to get back out into the sunlight and feel alive. See my friends more, hang out with my boys and tap into and utilise my love of traveling to new places.

I still wake up incredibly thankful for being able to move through this really debilitating time. I don’t know out of all the different things I did that made the difference. Mind-set, activity, goal setting, as well as balanced diet and exercise all, play their parts. Avoiding many harmful foods and becoming aware of the toxins that we are exposed to is also a huge factor .

Its been a journey and slowly over time I’ve realised a lot about myself, some outmoded beliefs and behaviours that were harmful, ways of eating that isn’t so nutritious and to learn to listen to my body more.

If any of you are struggling, don’t lose faith and hope. See what it is you want, but be realistic. Our bodies are an amazing vehicle, and we need to respect them and give them the right nourishment. Our minds are a tool that helps us set our course, and our spirit is what guides us when we have too many choices outside of us and don’t know what to take.

It took a while to wrap my head around how the yoga would make a difference.

Over the years I’ve become much stronger, fitter and happier. I have the energy to do stuff and am in charge of my life again. I had been convinced three to four sessions in the gym a week is what would give me the body and fitness I desired.

Doing something everyday has shown me what is now possible.

To move through sometimes, we experience the fear and anxiety that we will fall right back down, back to the same place. Maybe we will take some days, but as a baby we take time, get back up and give it another go. We walk before we can run…
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My hunches have now led me to a new path, a new hobby and new friendships and work. Sometimes we can manifest what were really looking for, but first, we have to see what’s getting in the way and set our intention and sail to bring in what we want.

Its what also motivates me to teach and develop workshops- to help others understand about how to evolve ,change transform and grow, beyond perceived limitations and the fear that can underlay this . Its very satisfying to see someone change and transform .

so consider what you could start to do different as we approach new year ,to change and transform . Read my other posts that give you some tips and tools to start the process or come to one of my next workshops .