40 Days

We, the questers (31 as of today) have taken commitments during the past months–to our organization, our bodies and our passions. Here are updates from others on their quests and an interview! Enjoy, support and add your own stories in the comments.

Interview with Julie Rorrer, who is training for the Austin Marathon in February 2010:

Portia Reddy made a commitment to do 40 days of yoga. Here she is in her yogic glory and an update on her challenge:

Hey Dy,

My challenge died. I lost my motivation and so I revamped the challenge and it has not taken off. At least not in the way I would like. I am still doing my yoga stretches in the morning and evenings but have not done a real 30 to 45 min. workout in weeks. But it was eye opening to see how much harder it became when it was something I had to do every day because I said I would as opposed to the sporadic nature of my practice before. Currently I am trying to work on re-incorporating 30 min. yoga sessions into my week 2 to 3 times a week.

Thanks for the check in, I really do appreciate it.

Tia

Norbert and Paula are in the middle of their 87 Days of Passion. Here’s a letter from them.

Dear Dyana,
We are entering our second month of PASSION. Living in the USA been quite an adjustment. My new schedule includes working on English with my husband, so I have been taking less time to write. Still, we’ve collected quite a few passions:

• We love to work out! (joined the local YMCA, very helpful, professional people there)
• We love to play outside! (sitting on the bank of the beautiful Wisconsin River while my husband fishes – a bit about meditation, visiting places in my hometown that I’ve never seen and finally seeing what’s been there the whole time)
• My husband loves to invent solutions – part one! (he’s renovating my mother’s house bit by bit using odds and ends laying around in my father’s workshop – ties in to some feelings about my father’s death)
• My husband loves to invent solutions – part two! (he’s building a device for loading our canoe onto our van – how to translate visions into reality)
• We love our canoe (and the water)! (checking out a variety of central Wisconsin canoe spots)
• We love surprise! (Story about dressing up for Halloween and trick or treating as an adult and the joy of feeling a little bit scared/apprehensive)
• We love details! (the precision with which my husband works as a German-trained machinist and about enjoying the smallest details on a walk in the woods with my nephew)
• We love the sun! (gloomy fall weather in northern Germany and sunny late summer in Wisconsin – seasonal depression and cultural differences)
• We love music – part one! (my husband’s passion for music by German singer Udo Lindenberg, old German songs from the 20s and Dixieland)
• We love music – part two! (a small town concert in a terrific venue built with donations gathered by a passionate teacher and a plea by the band leader to continue supporting the arts)
• We love to cook (and eat)! (Norbert’s passion for cooking with great ingredients and good tools and my passion for eating – and sustainable local food production)
• I love to find connections! (connections I’m seeing among the passions of my ancestors, my relatives and myself)

Maybe we’ll call the second month of this quest DIRECTION as we try to figure out how to transform these passions into a way of life. My husband will be looking for an internship and I’ll be trying to carve out some time to write and plan our future endeavors based on what we’ve learned in our first month.

Thanks for checking in.

Many friendly greetings from Wisconsin (a phrase directly translated from German that I find wonderful),
Paula

The 40 days of My Body (if you are new to this story, read the intro here) project, is a quest in service to my business, my body and my own path of finishing what I start. I am committed to exercising 6 days/week, keeping a food journal and being more aware of ways I use (and abuse) my body. Going public is extreme, yes, and it’s working! I’m working with a fantastic trainer, Sunny Riggs, to create a program I can sustain over time. She’s amazing. HIRE HER!

I am not alone on my quest. The roll call is at 31 people (including me)! Some are getting organized, others giving up fast food and some are simply breathing! Check out the updates and links below and show your support:

Tanya Geisler–40 days of hatha yoga and radical self-care. Check out her ROCKING tell-all post!
Petra Korn–30 days on her body (supported with love by hubby Nick)
Tia Reddy–yoga and exercise: she found her yoga plan was NOT working and made these adjustments.
Alisa Bonsignore–working out and food consciousness she’s DONE and kicking off another 30 days, this time of writing.
Suzie Powanda–no fast food or beverages. Check out her guest post getting into the nitty gritty of her challenge progress.
Julie Rorrer–training for the Austin marathon in Spring
Emma Alvarez Gibson–some bit of exercise, every day. She says she’s back in action!
Joyce Black–FINISHED her 21 days without caffeine and doing a general detox, congratulate her! She did a guest post, too!
Carabunga is rocking 40 days of hardcore productivity and rocking a blog about it. She has GREAT ideas on staying inspired and gives an update on wrassling her bitchy soul and is rocking her challenge!
Paula Trucks-Pape and her husband: 87 Days of exploring their passions
Monica Kingsbury: 30 days of the Candida diet to deal with her sweet tooth: She’s DONE, no honey or sugar for a MONTH, lost 4 lbs and has great new awarenesses around her body and her cravings. Way to go, Monica!
Jack and LisaMarie Rowell: 30 days of extreme health (alkaline diet)
Diane Sherry Case: 3 weeks of walking–she’s up to 20 minutes 4 days/week! (yoga if it rains)
Cindy Morefield: 21 Days of 30 mins/day of cardio exercise. Check out her guest post/video here.
Paula Estes: 30 Days of playing congas while she works in her studio
Sheila Hart is IN: 21 Days of no sugar!
Amy Ahlers: 40 days limiting processed food. She’s got loads of fish to fry and is going to re-evaluate her commitment in 2010.
SouperJenny Team: 40 Day hits the ATL! So far, Meredith is giving up sweets and Jenny is giving up booze!! 7 folks have joined their group. Gooo, Team Body, Mind, Spirit! Watch their  update videos here.

• John from San Diego is giving up carbs and working out 3x/week: gone AWOL–come back to us, John!
  
• Sharon’s giving up all sugar except fruit
• Merrideth giving up all sugar and exercising 4 times a week, she’s doing great and being nice to herself:)
• Marcie will journal every day and cut down from 4 to 5 diet sodas a day to one per day, Marcie is rocking along and DOING it!
• Tricia from Atlanta will drink a quart of her green juice concoction and exercise 5 to 7 times a week
• Lucero Martinez a restaurant/bar owner will give up all alcohol: fell off the wagon. Gitty up back on, Lucero!
• Jenny giving up all alcohol and working out 5 times a week AND recently added no sugar to her challenge. Way to up the ante, Jenny!
• WATCH this video of the SouperJenny team taking very good care of themselves and appreciating each other!
  

Ashley White-Stern: 40 days of meditation and she’s on day 26 of her challenge, fighting a cold, but staying true to being silent at least once a day. Feel better, Ashley!

M Arsenia Brown (aka: @donutdemon) joins with a commitment to 40 days of her body
Cat Sabonis-Chafee is in and says “I will move my ass” for 21 days of daily, considered exercise. She reminded me of a great tool: TAKE A DAY OFF every week and she added in an abs&stretch class today.
Emily-Sarah is joining with body awareness and daily movement. Welcome, Emily-Sarah.
Nicola Warwick kicks off 40 days of food journaling and diet hacking! TODAY! She’s using a super duper diet spreadsheet.

Are you a quester wanting to tell your story? Do it! E-mail me and put your own video or guest post up!

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