21.5.800

A change is a’coming around these parts. And it is good. strong. filling.

This is my first post of 21.5.800 – Bindu Wiles’ delicious brainchild that is reaching out and connecting folks like me (us?) from across all corners through writing, movement and stillness. Specifically, she’s challenging us to take 21 days, starting today, and commit ourselves to write 800 words each day, to practice yoga at least five days a week, and to share our experiences with one another over the three weeks.

I signed up immediately.

Ok, that’s a bit of a lie. I hesitated for approximately ten minutes. In those ten minutes, I thought that maybe this wasn’t the right time for me. I thought about the other delicious, exciting projects that have taken up residence in my world for the next few weeks. Projects that are designed to motivate me, teach me and stir my soul – in short, to bring about some change.

It occurred to me that perhaps – because of all those other things — this was the PERFECT time for a challenge like this one. It ties perfectly in with everything else I’ve got on the go.

It started with my Day Zero project. I’m slowly (oh so sloooowly…) making progress on my list. I decided that, what with summer approaching and me being nowhere near bikini-ready, I would make June my month to sweat once a day. Basically, it didn’t matter what I did, as long as I made the time to get SOME KIND of workout in each and every day. Yay, right? Get a workout in, tone up a bit in time for the season of no clothes.

Then, I stumbled upon an online writing workshop that sounded too good to be true. Pace and Kyeli, the ladies behind the Freak Revolution, were putting on a workshop called World-Changing Writing. Basically, the idea is that many of us, as writers, want to leverage owr skill, passion, talent, whatever-you-call-it, to make some kind of difference in the world.

This is a somewhat overwhelming idea. So, lovely Pace and Kyeli came up with this workshop, held online, that brings together writers who want to learn and be inspired with some people who know of which they speak. Folks who have actually gone out there and changed the world with their writing. Brilliant.

WCW starts this week (yay!), and finishes in July. I can’t wait to hear each of the presenters and go through the workbook.

I learned about the World Changing Writing Workshop via Twitter, when I saw that the divine Danielle LaPorte was one of the speakers. This brings me to another of my preoccupations for the minute. Danielle has recently launched an online book/workshop/vook (video-book) based on her consulting services, called the Fire Starter Sessions.

I seriously heart Danielle’s site, White Hot Truth, and was desperate to get my hands on a copy of FSS, but, alas, was short the necessary funds. Then, she went ahead and got crazy generous, and announced that for all day on her birthday, she would sell FSS for whatever amount readers could pay. A pay-it-forward, send-out-the-good-mojo way to celebrate the day of her birth. Inspiring.

I snatched it up, and have been anxiously waiting to dig in and get my fire stoked. The link arrived the other day.

If that wasn’t enough, I’m currently brainstorming a new project. I’m super excited about it, but it is going to take up a good chunk of time. I plan on using all of the world-changing, fire-starting tools I’ll soon be absorbing to make it happen.

And, because apparently my stars have decided to align themselves perfectly for the moment, I get to mine the brain of yet another blog-goddess, Kelly Diels. Kelly’s blog Cleavage rocks the free world. She’s sassy, smart, seductive and can wrap a fine phrase around her little finger. She’s hot.

And she’s decided to spread the love by hosting an afternoon in Vancouver to share her secrets. Oh lordy, the giddiness!

This afternoon doesn’t happen till July, but, clearly, a girl’s got to prepare herself.

You see what I’m saying? I’ve got a bit of a busy couple of months shaping up, what with the full-time job, anniversary with the boy, and the boy’s papa coming to visit for a few days on top of it all.

So, upon reflection, I decided that 21.5.800 might be just what I need to get this shit done.

I signed up immediately.

The deets:

I’ll be writing a variety of things to account for my 800 words each day (as you can see from the list above!) Some will be blog posts here, to share my experiences, others will be journaling, working on exercises from the FSS or the WCW, or on my own super-exciting project.

I’ll be getting my flow on at a number of yoga studios around town. I recently purchased a Passport to Prana, which gives you a free class at a whole bunch of studios on your hometown (available in cities across North America!). I’ve really only practiced at one studio here in Victoria (and I do love it…), MokSana, so this will be a nice way to get out and check out some other studios. I’ll also be practicing at home some days (such as tonight!), and including a couple of savasana sessions.