Winter 60 Day Challenge 2026 – What our members had to say

Sangeetha Srinivasan

This is my third Challenge. In the past two Challenges, I did every single class in the room. But this Challenge, life outside this room was too consuming, and I did 50% of my classes online. So I think, personally, I’m not too happy about this Challenge, because I always feel like doing it here, I enjoy doing it in the room more than at home. Once I sign up for something, it’s in my head, and I have to finish it, and I keep going and finish, which shows that I’m still committed to whatever I sign up for. So I felt happy knowing that about myself. So thank you so much.

Kerry Hyman

I’ve been practicing for 25 years, and I’ve done a bunch of Challenges – I did a 365-day Challenge once. You guys know, I come every day. A friend of mine took me to my first class, and I fell in love. My kids were still small, so I had a hard time getting to class; you guys know how it works. And then my friend stopped going, but I kept going, and I still go. It’s part of my life. As Bikram says, it’s like you’re brushing your teeth every morning. I get up, I take class, and I do brush first. I’m just so excited that so many of you did it.

Naomi Parker

My first class was about 18 months ago. I am somebody who always loves a good shvitz – It’s a Yiddish word for getting your sweat on. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would do 60 classes in 60 days. And I never thought I would even consider a double class, but I did three. I didn’t think I had the wherewithal or the time, but I made it happen. On January 1, out of the fishbowl, I pulled my Angel Card, and my word is transformation. And these are the touchpoints of my transformation in the 60 days, and my commitment; commitment to what I didn’t think was possible.

One thing that was said at that first class was to think of one thing in your practice that you think is unachievable, and work toward it. You’ll get closer. You may accomplish it, or you may just get closer, but work toward it, and that took commitment. The commitment and follow through was a transformation for me. It is not just a hobby to practice yoga; now it is a lifestyle.

The second point of my transformation was really understanding the mind-body connection – listening to all the words, processing them with such focus, more focus than giving birth, more focus than when I took the bar exam, more focus than anything I’ve ever done in my life. To listen to the words and to let your body do what your mind tells it to do.

Another touch point was becoming part of a community. For the first year and many months of my practice, I really didn’t know anybody’s name. I recognized a lot of your faces, but I didn’t know anything about you. During the Challenge, by coming day after day and trying little by little to get to know names and faces and a little bit about each person, I still have a long way to go. But this is a very special, loving community, and that has been transformative to me. So, for that, I thank all of you.

Sarah Newman

It interested me why I did it. I do practice a lot anyway. It interested me to work harder, and I was sort of inspired. I’m learning Korean, and I like K-dramas and K-pop. It blows me away how hard it is, and I’m inspired by how much work it takes. I’m just scratching the surface of it, but I did more. I do more in class. It’s putting me into the beginning of the exploration. What it showed me was that I had an exponential leap in my postures. We always say the postures are not it, but the postures are the practice, the physical movement is the practice, the goal of the practice, right? There’s always more to learn. It’s really fascinating.

Asha Smith

I had built a dance career in New York and experienced the kind of joy and success that comes from working your entire life for something you love. But when the pandemic hit, everything changed almost overnight. The career I had spent my life building disappeared. What started as simply stepping into the hot room became something so much bigger than the workout. It challenged my body, but more importantly, it rebuilt my mind, my spirit, and my confidence. In many ways, this practice saved my life. It healed me from the inside out, physically, emotionally, and mentally, and reminded me that life was still worth showing up for and loving again. It gave me a renewed sense of purpose and a new goal to become the best version of myself. That journey led me to complete the 60 Day Challenge. This year, I also became Bikram-certified online and began competing with USA Yoga. It was my first competition, and I won it last week.

Michael Wickler

Every time I do a Challenge, it feels like it’s time to reaffirm my practice, and this time was like all of those. My dad passed away last Thanksgiving, and it was really hard to go through and sort of traumatizing for me. The first thing I wanted after coming home was to get back to yoga. I couldn’t wait; it’s really a great way to deal with loss. I missed a lot of yoga, so I got back in with the Challenge in January. The first month was nice and smooth; one a day. Then February rolled around, and the schedule was hectic, and I had to do a lot of doubles. I came out of the Challenge feeling like I had so much more bulldog determination; that was really summoned in me. I came out of it feeling much more determined in my life. Everything I did and worked so hard on got me to a place where, all of a sudden, I found myself able to go to Thailand next month for nine weeks to study with Bikram, Manali, Anurag, and others. That’s going to be fantastic.

Claire Wright

I’ve only missed one Challenge in the last six years. And before that, I had done several. This time I thought, Oh, I’m gonna do one every day, yeah, but I had to do three doubles in January and three doubles in February. But, yeah, that’s almost the fewest doubles I’ve had to do. And the thing that I discovered in myself this time was that I really am focused on concentrating in the room the whole 90 minutes. It’s really made a difference. I feel like I’ve grown into doing this yoga since I started at BYSJ within the first year, 23 years ago. I would say that outside of the classroom, I’ve achieved a sense of calm.

Linda Chuang

This is my 11th 60 Day Challenge. I had an Angel Card at the beginning of this year. The word was “risk taker,” and I felt it definitely applied during the 60 Day Challenge. I’m a fan of Katya, so she motivated me to bike here. I get here before the 5:30 am and 6:00 am classes and bike in the dark. So that’s the number one risk taker. Number two. I sprained my wrist during the Challenge and kept practicing with it. But I still felt that yoga helped. Number three: I wrote a Story of a Yogi, and it was published in January this year. It was risk-taking because it was all in poetry. Then, the last risk-taking was practicing with my daughter, who helped me with the doubles. So that was really nice. It was a treat to take the 6:00 am class, and then my daughter came to the 8:00 am class on weekends. It was really nice to bond with her and do doubles with her. It was probably my most doubles ever. I did nine doubles because I had a lot of trips to take, and I appreciate the studio, because I was able, for the first time, to take all the classes: 5:30, 9:15, 12 noon, 4:30, and 6:30. This is the first time I had to take them all in order to complete the Challenge. I had to do all those classes and do nine doubles, my most ever. I appreciate all the teachers. Thank you so much. We have a great community.

Roger Chen

This Challenge, as usual, is related to my practice and competition. Overall, one thing I was looking for in my practice and in competing in general is having a little more ease and enjoyment in the process. It didn’t feel like torture. In many poses, I don’t have to think as much. It’s getting a lot easier. It’s not about being on autopilot, but you kind of know when you’re doing something right. And also, in this recent competition, I had a bit more buffer to stay in the posture, etc. It’s really a blessing that I was able to discover the little epiphanies I had here and there. And then after class, I’m always impressed with yogis who don’t sweat much. But what’s incredible about this practice is that there’s a wealth of information out there, on the internet or wherever, but it’s only in this class that you can actually put your hypotheses and your guesses to the test.

Katherine Williams

This was the most challenging Challenge of all the Challenges for me so far – between my work schedule, and I also lost my dad, so the grief took its toll, but it was a great way to power through that. My only regret is how many online classes I had to take compared to in-person ones, but I made it happen. So I appreciate the livestream option. And in the last week of the Challenge, I had to travel to LA for a trade show, where we talked with people all day. And I was staying with my coworkers in an Airbnb, and I kept reminding them that at 4:30 it’s my yoga time. And they’re like, oh, let’s play Monopoly, let’s talk, talk, talk some more. I try to be polite for the sake of the group, but I did have to put my foot down every day and remind them not to talk to me. But more importantly, thank you to all the teachers, the wonderful teachers here. We’re really lucky to be able to come to the studio. And thank you, Michele, for having this here for us. And all the hard work that you do. I believe this may be the fifth Challenge. It reminds me that to achieve the transformation in our bodies, we really need to come pretty frequently. And when it’s every day, you feel it so vividly that you don’t want to spend too many more days away, because you’ll feel stiff, you’ll feel terrible.

Rohit Shrivastava

This was great because I’ve actually tried the Challenge four times, and I’ve finished it twice now. I try to do it every year, but with my travel schedule and all that, the doubles don’t work out. For me, it’s really about getting more disciplined. I think everybody knows my wife, Rashmi, here; she’s the disciplined one. She’s the one who got me here, really. I would say Covid was the worst time. We were doing it all online. To you and to all the teachers, there’s a lot of motivation here. There’s a lot of sincerity. And that allowed us to continue. That was one thing we used to look forward to, even during Covid. So I’m glad that I’m able to do it. It feels like every time I do the Challenge, I feel better, and then I think life gets in the way. So my main Challenge is to continue to keep doing it. I can do the classes. But then I try to get into something else, cycling or anything else, but I keep coming back to yoga. Yoga can do a lot for you, but it is ultimately an inward reflection. So the more you can focus on it, the better you feel. But I think a lot of the motivation comes from you and the teachers. Every time get good advice, that’s always helpful.

Doug Robin

I did a Challenge last winter, and I really did it with the intention that it would be the foundation of my practice. And, you know, this year I made it to about 300 classes. It’s part of my daily life. I really feel a strong faith. It’s something that I’ve had from day one, and it just gets stronger. And the thing that’s so interesting about it is that there’s nothing to intellectualize about it – I know the power of this yoga. I work part-time, I wake up, play guitar, and come here.

Jeanne Deveau

When I started the 60 days, I was heading to spend some time with my parents, knowing that I would have to practice online for three weeks. But it kept snowing, so I practiced online for seven weeks in a closet. I have a closet with two heaters, a humidifier, and mirrors. I was super grateful to come back and be able to share space with the other class members, all of you, and to have a teacher in front of me. I saw Sarah and Matt a lot, super helpful. I saw Kerry a lot. I was sort of interested in trying a 5:30 am class, and I loved it; totally different vibe. And this is my first completed Challenge. Last year I started, and I got 30 days in, and then I got really sick, and I was out of the yoga room for seven months. But the 30 days made the seven months better, and it motivated me to come back. I would also like to say that I have two teenagers, and they did not steal my peace in the last 60 days!