How three weeks became a year…

How three weeks became a year…
by Robin Starr, RCY student
January 4, 2022

I want to share with you all something wonderful that happened to me in 2021, although it was completely unplanned. In fact, I started out on a path almost by accident, and was surprised to find myself continuing to follow it.  For 2021 I set for myself several simple goals:  get a little healthier; find a better way to cope with covid; and form habits to help me accomplish the first two.

In late 2020, I – like everyone – was struggling. I had let myself get so out of shape that I was embarrassed to take a yoga class for fear of collapsing in a heap just trying to hold a simple downward dog.  My emotions were frayed, and I was careening towards the age of 60.

Along came the January 2021 3-Week Revival Challenge at RCY. Online classes became a salvation for me.  In the safety of my own space, I could spread out my mat and keep the camera off.  If I needed to go to child’s pose 20 times in a single hour, fine.  As Julia Child said, “No one need know what goes on in your kitchen.”  My dog often joined me on her own mat, but she never giggled at me.  Not even once.  The rules of the Revival were simple:  spend some time every day on your mat for 3 weeks.  Taking an hour class counted but so did a 10-minute meditation.  I can do anything for three weeks, and I did.  Thanks to the classes and free videos, I was able to fit a ½ hour or so of yoga into my morning schedule.  The online class kept me honest, and the videos allowed my to fit yoga into a crazy schedule at my convenience.  I completed the challenge, and just sort of kept going.

By mid-February I had a real streak going.  Downward dog was no longer intimidating and the chaturangas were less and less like face-plants.

By April I mentioned my streak to one of the wonderful instructions at RCY (you know who you are!), and she took it upon herself to check in with me from time to time, to see if the streak was still going.  It was.

Today, January 1^st, 2022, I am cutting myself some slack.  I’m taking a day off from my mat today after having been on my mat every single day of 2021.  For 2022 I’m keeping yoga in my schedule – especially on work mornings.  Much to my own surprise, morning yoga works for me.  It’s done almost before I’m awake, and I roll up my mat much more easily than the creaks and groans that accompanying its initial unrolling on the kitchen floor.

I had no intention of doing 365 days straight of yoga, and no doubt, had I set that goal from the outset I wouldn’t have made it.  The Revival simply set me on a path towards goals I had already set for myself.  The rest happened thanks to the support and the available tools of RYC.  And my dog, Mookie.  I hope you find a way to start down your own path in 2022, and see where it leads you.

~ Robin Starr