Personal October Challenge 2018

Work on a habit you want to make or break.

---

This coming Monday is the start of October. October is the last month of the year before you (or at least, I) feel like the holiday requirements begin to mount. Don’t get me wrong, I love the holiday season – Thanksgiving dinner is easily my favorite – but there are quite a few things that need attention around that time, from preparations to celebrations. And it can often distract me from my best self-care intentions.

So to help maximize this last ‘no-major-holiday’ month, I’ve put a “Personal October Challenge” out to the Tadasana.Yoga community.

This one is a little different than our Feb Club 28-days of yoga challenge, or other fitness challenges. Rather than making it all about the physical exercise, I’ve offered up the idea that everyone can choose their own personal challenge for the month. The idea is: commit to your own target goal for 31 days in order to change a habit.

This idea of a period of focused effort is well-researched (the length of time varies depending on the study.) I know that I personally have experienced the value of a “forced commitment” for a period of time: three years ago, I gave up soda during a 30-day challenge and I’ve never looked back.

So for this Personal October Challenge, we’re inviting you to join us in your commitment to create or break a habit in 31 days. You might choose to practice yoga with us for that period — 31 days of yoga is in my plan, as I really have noticed how my flexibility has declined over the past few months; or you might choose to set some other goal for yourself. I’ve also decided to do a “sober October” challenge for myself. I feel like that will be a good cleanse for the holidays to follow!

If you’re taking on the challenge, please consider joining our Tadasana.Yoga October Challenge facebook group. It’s an open group page where you can post your targets and how things are going for you.

And most important, whatever happens, whether you are able to complete 31 days in a row, or have some slip-ups along the way, remember that picking yourself back up and re-committing at any point in the journey is just as valuable a mental education as “making it”. Another lesson from research in habits is that repeated efforts are both valuable and effective!

~Melissa