Personally, I can be a bit of an all or nothing kind of girl. I get an idea in my head and it's gung ho until the next download filters through. Habits and routine have never really been my thing, but the simplicity of James Clear's Atomic Habits book has inspired me lately to strip back the stress of getting something done, or spending hours on end to achieve a goal one day, then completely ghosting it the next. Rather, I'm learning the benefits of implementing habits in consistent, manageable, bite-size chunks of time. It's how I finally managed to get this website and this new newsletter to you and how I found enjoyment in the habit of my practice once again.
ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO FIND THE FUN IN YOUR PRACTICE?
ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO MAKE IT A DAILY HABIT?
I thoroughly recommend reading Atomic Habits! Clear's simple tips can be implemented into daily life in many ways. I've also shared five simple ideas that have helped me to grow with my practice and find the fun in creating a habit!
ROLL OUT YOUR MAT
Struggle getting up in the morning? Don't have the energy after work to do anything but flop on the couch after work? It's easy to bypass healthy habits when they don't yet exist or there is nothing directly in your way to remind you of what you're missing. I find that when I lay my mat out at night, so its ready for me to get up to, its much harder to ignore my practice. Seeing my mat already laid out on the floor reminds me that past me made a promise to my future self to get moving! Seeing my prop there makes it harder to say no to making it a habit.
GET THE SENSES IGNITED WITH SMELL OR SOUNDS
Some argue that the whole purpose of practice is to withdraw from the senses in order to come in to complete presence and exaltation. For me, bringing awareness to the senses brings me in to the moment and helps me focus on what is going on here and now. Cleansing your space with the beautiful scents of palo santo, sage or a different incense, might hone you in to the perfect peaceful place. If you are away to do a sweaty power flow, you might want to get those jamming tunes on the go to get you in that flow zone.
PUT ON YOUR "YOGA CLOTHES"
By no means does this mean you have to go out and purchase a pare of expensive, skin tight leggings, then go on and spend a small fortune buying a matching top and sports bra. Make a conscious effort to get yourself in to comfy clothing that it your Yoga outfit. Almost like a uniform that you know when you are wearing it, it's time to get to it. Just like you rolling out your mat as a signal to practice, putting on your 'Yoga' clothes, laying them out in preparation or putting them on straight after work ready to jump in to practice as soon as you get in the house. These are all very simple ways to point tto your practice time.
GIVE YOURSELF A MANAGEABLE AMOUNT OF TIME
Honestly, I've often been disheartened to practice by contemplating how long it's going to take me. I'll work myself up by thinking that the only way to make some sort of progress is to have spent hours at a time on my mat; when in reality little and often goes a long, long way. Your mat is rolled out, you have your clothes on, all you need to do is step on the mat. That is often the hardest part of any practice or habit building - just showing up and stepping on. So do it. Step on your mat. And if that is all you can manage that day, fair play. If you continue to five minutes, ten minutes, thats great, you get going. more often than not when I've got over that first hurdle, the rest follows easily and time flies by. You are in control so you can start or stop whenever you are ready. So start with a manageable amount of time. Something that is manageable for you to pick up daily. Something that you cant celebrate doing on the daily and see where you fly!
JUST DO IT
Trust me I can be QUEEN of excuses. We all make them, when we feel the resistance. Some times the best way to form a new habit or to get going it to just fu*cking do it... literally in the words of Nike.... Write down all of your reasons as to why not, or why leave it 'til later.... then come to the point where you realise what's going to be most beneficial for you is just stepping on that mat and doing it. Some times the discomfort of something is actually what we need to move through, in order to expand, experience and inspire!!
xx
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