Well we all made it. More or less. I really enjoyed this little mini challenge and was really heartened by the lively discussions it promoted in the studio over the last month.

Whether or not we succeed in our aims or found the opportunity to do without simple or challenging, the chance to confront our excesses and acknowledge them to ourselves and our fellow yogis was revealing and rewarding.

Among the habits that our students wished to take a little more ownership of were: Eating bread! binge watching tv, sweets, alcohol, social media (this was the most common), chilli oil, fast food and sugar. By the sounds of it the most success was had by people who had previously identified the behaviour or habit in the past and were looking for another good reason (peer pressure!) to have another shot at cutting down or moderating that habit.

Personally I found it relatively straight forward to live without alcohol this time around, I kept a short journal of a few key indicators over the month and I think that really helped. In the past I think whenever I’ve cut down on my drinking I haven’t really felt any benefit so I’ve only felt like I was losing something without really gaining anything in return. This time around there have been a few very tangible improvements in my life:

• Sleep: I’ve been sleeping really well, far fewer disturbed nights and for me this was the area I really hoped to see most improvement.
• Digestion: My gut biome is much happier and settled, I guess this is a no brainer really but being conscious of it has made it far easier to appreciate.
• Head space: Another really crucial one for me was that I wanted to let go of looking forward to having a drink during the afternoon and then spending the next morning regretting drinking so much the night before and then repeating the cycle infinitely until I die.
• Less calories: Over each week I’ve consumed roughly 3500cal less than I have been. That’s almost a day and a half less worth of calories each week which is huge really. It has translated to a drop of 1.4kg over the month.
• The practicing of tapas: As is so often the case once you make yourself aware of something and commit energy towards it, it becomes easier. Over the month I’ve managed to let go of a few other habits that haven’t been doing me any good!

Talking to my father about this he suggested that one reason I might be seeing so much more positive improvement than before is simply that I’m older. Whereas in the past I might have just been able to compensate with the power of youth (sadly) that’s no longer a luxury I have. It’s also possible that because my approach was framed and focused in a different way I may have been experiencing the benefits of the powerful ojas energy that has built through my conscious tapas practice!

One of the most interesting things to come up was the concept of these habits as a form of reward and how we compensate in the absence of that reward. For me that “kids are in bed and the house is still,” moment was a great time to just briefly pause and reward myself for getting everyone fed bathed and into bed (more of less) happily. Without that moment for a while I really felt like I had lost something but it gradually seemed less important over the month until it really didn’t feel important at all.

Thank you for everyone who contributed to our donation to Medecin Sans Frontieres it felt really good at the end of this somewhat introspective exercise to be able do something positive in a wider sense.