December can crush the best of intentions when it comes to self care. Between all the tempting goodies, parties and shopping, our healthful practices may slide off our plate! And, then, you know what happens next…it’s January and now it’s time to get momentum going again. Ugh!!!
We know it can be hard to get in synch with being regulars doing things such as yoga. The establishment of a habit is much harder than maintaining it. In the beginning, it can be like pushing a rock up the hill to get out of inertia and get something started. But once we get the wheel turning, it’s not so bad to keep showing up and doing our thing.
But, it doesn’t have to be. In this case, we can have our “cake” and eat it too. But, we have to adjust our practices for our schedule – even if that means making a big adjustment to what we do. The important thing is to do something, to bookmark our practice in some way because in that way we keep our habit intact.
And, then, we all know how it goes, we get busy and we get away from things like practicing yoga.
The key is don’t stop. And, especially don’t miss two occasions in a row. Because this is where habit erosion takes place BIG TIME. But that doesn’t mean you have to do your full practice. It means you have to do something that counts as practice that you can fit in.
If you normally attend an hour long yoga class at a studio, I’m here to let you off the hook if you can’t make it…but the deal is, you have to commit to a mini practice at home instead. When I say “commit”, I mean on Sunday for the upcoming week, you look at your calendar and you find time in the morning to do 15 to 20 minutes of yoga. Then, you get very specific with yourself about that commitment. Let’s say you pick Tuesday morning at 7 am to do your practice at home. In that case,you write down the following, “I’m going to practice yoga on Tuesday, December 11th at 7 am in the living room.” You must include the date, time and place in your commitment. If you don’t normally do something, it is crucial that you are THAT specific with yourself. You can make it even stickier by stacking the commitment right up against something that you do automatically like brushing your teeth for example.
I know for a lot of people that do not practice at home and only practice at a studio, it can be very confusing to decide what to practice. There are many great resources online. I even have an audio recording that I can send to you of one of my classes – just email me at arlenethayeryoga@gmail.com
But then, having a lot of choices can make it difficult aswell as you can get overwhelmed with what to pick. I recommend when you find something, stick with it and don’t hop around – you want to minimize having to think about it. So, I will simply this for you even further by telling you that if you don’t want to get hung up searching out something online, here is a very simple practice to tide you over:
Begin with 5 rounds of Box Breathing in an easy seated pose (Box Breathing = Inhale, Hold your Breath, Exhale, Wait to Breathe – all to a count of 4 or 5)
Lay in Savasana for three minutes
Bridge pose – 5 breaths
Knees to the Chest – 5 breaths
Take the Knees over the each side for a spinal twist – 5 breathso n each side
Do some sun salutations – perhaps 1 Sun Sal A and 1 Sun Sal B – if you want a longer practice, increase the repetitions
Stretch over to the side with the arms up over head to stretch out the side of the body – 5 breaths each side
(optional: tree pose if you would like to practice your balance – hold for 10 breaths on each side)
Child’s Pose – Hold for 10 breaths
Savasana for three minutes
Viola! There is your little gentle practice that you can do at home or anywhere that will serve as a“bookmark” until you can get back into the studio.