Creating a yoga habit
In pre-pandemic times, I relied heavily on yoga studios for maintaining my yoga practice habit. I had favorite studios, favorite classes, and favorite teachers. It was easy to know that I’d be going to the Sunday afternoon yoga class across town and plan accordingly. But in these days of on-demand and live-streamed yoga, it can be a bit more challenging to make time for yoga. That sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? I find that if I can do yoga ANYTIME online, then I just might never decide on a time to do it, and it just might fall off my radar. I can always put off yoga until “later”, “tomorrow”….”next week”! Lucky for you, I went through all of this in 2020 and now, in 2022, I can share with you my tried and true practices for making yoga a habit even at home!
Tip #1: Remember why you do yoga
The #1 tip I have for you is to always remember why you do yoga. Everyone may have different reasons, but everyone has a reason. If you can keep YOUR reason in the front of your mind, it will be that much easier for you to motivate yourself to practice. If you want a reminder on your reason, then the next time you practice yoga have a journal handy and after your final relaxation pose, savasana, jot down the way you feel. THIS is why YOU practice yoga! Keep that note handy!
Tip #2: Know your yoga practice style
I don’t mean the type of yoga you do, I mean know whether you do best with livestream classes, recordings, or guiding your own practice. If your plan is to find a free yoga video on YouTube when you’re ready to practice but you actually need the motivation of a livestream class, then you’re going to spend way too much time searching for a video and little to no time practicing. On the other hand, if you find someone else’s instructions to be distracting, you might prefer to practice on your own, maybe with some nice background music.
Tip #3: Choose a reasonable expectation and practice self-compassion
If you’re like me, you’re all about unreasonable expectations. It’s all or nothing, baby! Before I took yoga teacher training, I thought real yoga teachers practiced 2 hours of asana every day and then meditated for like 30 minutes twice a day. And I’m sure there are those yoga teachers out there, but that’s not reasonable or realistic for me. At this point of my life, my physical body couldn’t even handle 2 hours a day of stretching and strengthening! When you decided how often and how long you’ll practice yoga, try to be as reasonable and loving to yourself as possible. Choose something you are most likely to stick with, and then don’t beat yourself up when you don’t stick to it. Just get back on your mat when you can.
Tip #4: Be flexible
No, not that kind of flexible. Yoga does NOT care if you can touch your toes! I love that yoga has a sister science, Ayurveda, that is linked to the seasons and reminds us that what we do in the summer, might not be what we should be doing in the winter. Allow your practice to change with the time of day, the season, and the time of life you’re in.
Tip #5: Just do it!
(Am I even aloud to say that?) Procrastination is NOT your friend. Here are some ways I have procrastinated in the past, learn from my mistakes: I decide I’ll do a morning practice but when morning comes, I push it off until evening (repeat the cycle); I don’t plan ahead of time what kind of practice I’ll do, so I spend the majority of time looking at videos or books and almost no time practicing; I sign up for a livestream class then decide I’ll watch the video instead and then don’t watch the video before I lose access; and here’s a good one: I can’t possibly practice until my space is spotless so I spend my yoga time picking up and vacuuming instead of practicing yoga!
I hope you found a nugget or two in here that will help you create a yoga habit for yourself! If you’re looking for short, accessible yoga videos on demand, check out my online therapeutic yoga membership, Homecoming!