The Law School Transplant - If you don't find me helpful, hopefully you'll find me at least mildly entertaining.

We’re already to the end of the 21-day challenge! Need to catch up? Make sure you start at the beginning!

It’s been a gloomy sort of weekend, with lots of fog and rain. But, that certainly beats a year ago, when we were preparing to get snowed in for a week. I feel like I have fallen behind on a lot of things, but was determined not to fall behind on my schedule to complete the 21-day challenge. So, I was happy to wrap up a long and busy weekend with some yoga.

Day 20 – like Days 6 and 13 – was a 30-minute tension-release practice. This week, the practice focused on side bends – something I don’t generally pay a whole lot of attention to. This practice was also led by Jason Crandell, so of course I enjoyed it tremendously (which is not to say that the other instructors aren’t good; there’s one I don’t like, Jason Crandell is my favorite, and the others fall somewhere in between). It was challenging, but very doable and provided the opportunity for varying degrees of intensity. The sequence included some really great poses like parivritta janu sirsasana, which I love, even if I can’t grab my big toe or get my head all the way to my knee. There were also some really great variations on trikonasana and parsvakonasana that allowed me to get full side stretches all the way from my fingers to my toes. I’ve never done Bikram so I can’t make any judgments about it, but I personally enjoy variety in my practice (Bikram devotees, feel free to convince me otherwise!).

After the side-bending practice, I went ahead and did Day 21’s week-ending evening practice as I have the last two weeks. I’m not sure my feelings about it have changed substantially, though I did appreciate it a little more after such a long weekend. FatDog found it relaxing as well; by the end he was curled up on his bed, snoring away. (I wish I’d had my phone with me to take a picture, because it was really priceless). And with that, the 21-day challenge came to a quiet and peaceful close.

I’ve been pondering my next steps and challenges. I’ll be posting a full recap of this challenge in the next couple of days to reflect on what I learned and how I feel. Yoga Journal’s 2012 online 21-day challenge starts tomorrow, and I have signed up to do it. I will likely not blog about it everyday, but will probably post a weekly recap. As I mentioned the other day, I’m considering adding the extra challenge of eating vegetarian during this next 21 days.

Thanks to all of you who have shared in this journey with me by reading along and providing encouragement and accountability. I look forward to sharing new challenges as the year progresses. In the meantime, Namaste.