Moon Cycle 28-Day Challenge: Week 1 in review with Mary Carr

Mary Carr, CEO of the Underbelly, reflects on her first week of practice participating in the Moon Cycle 28-Day Challenge.

The Moon Cycle Challenge is a flexible 4-week self driven challenge. Work through 28 days of curated yoga classes in the app in conjunction with our workbook full of journal prompts and reflections, available as a hardcopy and digital download in the shop here. Start and stop anytime.

First Week of the Moon Cycle Yoga Challenge: I’m Tired

Y’all, I just wrapped up the first week of the Moon Cycle Yoga Challenge! It’s been a wild ride.

Here are a few of my takeaways while learning what PRACTICE actually means. The falling down, the quitting and starting again, the tears and resistance. I came, I journaled, I slowed it way down, and—most importantly—I made a little more room for me.

Practice over Perfectionism EVERY time

Turns out, the call was coming from inside the house, I’ve been gatekeeping my own movement and sacrificing practice at the altar of perfectionism. But you know what is so much more interesting? Not needing to be perfect, falling into chaos and surviving, letting yourself be messy and doing it anyway, stopping and learning that you will start again. Mind-blowing, right? This realization was a bit gut wrenching, I’ve been limiting myself out of fear. But that is the slippery slope of perfectionism. New goal: just show up and see what happens.

Deconstructing Worth: I don’t have to earn it.

Carving out time and space to simply BE (as if that’s simple at all) does not make me less worthy of anything. My worth is an inherent part of me, no matter how much of that “to do” list gets ticked off. And I am the only one that can know that. It isn’t something someONE else or someTHING else can validate for me. I am the only one that can reclaim my own being as worthy.

The Art of Rest: A Trust Fall

Trusting myself enough to say, “I need rest,” has been a shapeshifting concept - like a trust fall with my own body, a surrender to owning the moment and what is being asked. The fear that if I rested I would never start again, has bullied me for as long as I can remember. But I am changing that. I am supporting my body in naming what she needs and listening to her. She’s actually never let me down, come to think of it.. Owning my need for rest is a radical act of self-respect and empowerment.

Abundance is my Birthright

Meditating on the idea of Abundance allowed it to unfurl before my eyes. I could see how it is a choice we access through our perspective on our experiences. Abundance is present in every facet of my life when I look to see it. Claiming this perspective has opened new paths towards gratitude and an expansive, generative relationship with all that is in this moment.

Emotions in Observations

This one is very elusive for me. Historically, I like to wrestle with my emotions, judge them, deny them and then tumble into them, lost. But, this week, there were glimpses of another way to engage with them. What if they weren’t entire sagas I had to endure? What if they were invitations towards my curiosity? In doing so, I found that grief and hope were companions within my emotional experiences allowing for strength in the face of vulnerability and resilience in the face of adversity.

Time Carving: Better than Pottery

Making time for myself, especially when my “to-do list” is yelling at me (you should be…), has been a power move. Turns out, a little me-time can cultivate a lot of freedom - not the other way around. Prioritizing myself in the midst of chaos offers me a space to return to whenever the dust storm kicks up.

Conclusion

Week one down, and I’m feeling pretty good about this Moon Cycle Yoga Challenge. I’ve learned a lot, laughed a lot, and maybe even cried a little. Can’t wait to see what the next week brings. Stay tuned, and keep breathing!