Following on from last week’s blog about my vision for 2020, I’d now like to invite you to take part in a fundraising challenge for Breathworks!

Our goal is to have 20 challenges for 2020 completed by different people or groups of people. 

My own challenge will be to swim 20 lengths of my local pool over 20 days. I’m going to do this in the autumn of 2020. I decided to do this as a fundraising challenge as it will help me be disciplined about my exercise, keep it regular for 20 days and it might also be fun. I enjoy swimming and there is a sauna and steam room at my local pool, so I get a bonus relaxation reward each day.

Fundraising challenges often involve extreme physical feats of endurance, but they certainly don’t need to. Swimming 20 lengths of the pool is like a gentle walk for an Olympic swimmer, but for me it is significant. For you, even swimming one length may be an extraordinary achievement, so that could be your challenge.

Or maybe you’ve got a severe health condition and you want to be motivated to bring about some behaviour change to support your well-being. Why not make this your challenge?

It might be something like:

• Meditating at least 10 minutes a day for 20 consecutive days
• Giving up sugar for 20 consecutive days
• Doing gentle stretches for 20 consecutive days
• Using a timer to pace your activities for 20 consecutive days
• Going to bed at a reasonable time for 20 consecutive days (if you’ve got a tendency to stay up too late for your well-being)
• Limiting your digital input for 20 consecutive days (maybe switching your phone off completely for at least 12 hours in a 24-hour window)

Or, you could do something physically challenging if that inspires you. For example, in 2019 Deb, Dave, Sona, Karen and Vidyapala all cycled 50 kms through the night participating in the Liverpool Nightrider fundraising cycle. They all loved it and were really buzzing with excitement and satisfaction afterwards as they drove home at dawn. You can read about their training here. Together they raised an amazing total of nearly £4,000.

Building on the success of this we are looking for a team of five to complete the 100 km Nightrider in London on Saturday 6 June.  Contact Karunatara Green at The Breathworks Foundation if you are interested. 

In 2019 Nadia Miller walked/climbed the Yorkshire Three Peaks at night! A remarkable achievement. She wrote a wonderful blog about training for it here – and another blog after the event here. She raised £560 with her challenge.

So please get on your thinking caps. We welcome any ideas, no matter how unusual! Let’s work/play together to come up with 20 amazing ‘fun’raising challenges for 2020!

Karunatara Green is the fundraising co-ordinator at The Breathworks Foundation. Once you have your idea for a challenge, just email her at [email protected], and she and the Breathworks team will do all the behind-the-scenes work such as helping you to create your own fundraising page, supporting you with publicity and promotion and general enthusiasm, gratitude and well-wishing.

All money raised goes to the Aryamati Bursary Fund – enabling people on low incomes to access the life-changing skills of mindfulness and compassion.

 - Vidyamala Burch