167 Day Yoga Streak Ends

The other day my 167 day yoga streak, the one I kept track of in that journal up there, came to an end. That’s almost 6 months of daily practice. Over.

I’m sad about it. Really sad.

If you’re a regular here, you know I write about streaks a lot. I am, by nature, a streaker. I like to say “streaker” rather than “disciplined,” because while it takes discipline to keep a streak going, I don’t like to focus on all that grit-your-teeth, nose-to-the grindstone kind of stuff, because the truth of the matter is that I’m not a grindstoney person. Hate grindstones, in fact. And grit? In my teeth? Please. My periodontist just complimented me on my excellent hygiene. We will have none of this grit.

I only streak things I really, really love, so to be all solemn and hair-shirt about it would go completely against the grain.

Because a key tenet of my life philosophy is this: “If it’s not fun, it’s not done.”

By “fun” I don’t mean laugh my ass off, piss my pants kind of fun, (though I stand for that, too.)  But fun in the “interesting, ” intriguing,” “fascinating,” even “challenging” sense.  Like climbing a really high mountain is “fun,” or running a marathon is fun.

So I had this 167 day love-fest-streak-thing going with my daily yoga practice: the private practice I do in my home yoga room in my crappy tee and baggy harem pants that have stains on them.

The practice I do when no one is home to become alarmed at the crashes and thumps of my body flailing about, hitting the ground, crashing into walls, or at the moaning, groaning and heavy breathing that sounds more like I’m having hot sex with myself than doing a “spiritual practice.”

But then I caught this this cough/cold thing and I felt crummy in the mornings. I’d drag myself to my mat for a “streaker keeper” practice: the barest minimum I could do with integrity to keep the streak in tact.

Then, the other day I over-did it cleaning the studio and came home dragging my cough, cold AND a really cranky QL (quadratus lumborum) aka: low back pain. I did the Advil thing, but I couldn’t sleep without waking up, so the next day…

I did not practice.

Streak ended.

So per my own rules about streaks, I now confess publicly that this one is over, and it is time to start a new one. Building from scratch. Day after day, for as long as I can.

And with the Yoga Challenge starting at the studio on Sunday, the timing couldn’t be better.