I am proud to say that I have maintained a daily yoga practice for the last 2 ½ weeks, which is longer than I have ever managed before. At the risk of jinxing my future success, I will share some key factors that have contributed to my success:
I set the bar low – Aspirational goals are great and work really well for some people. I, however, am not one of them. In the past I have set my goal for daily yoga practice at 30-60 minutes a day. I would spend a few days assuring myself that I would start “tomorrow” but tomorrow never came. My current goal is 10 minutes a day. A small enough chunk of time that I can’t justify to myself not doing it.
A goal is not a cap – It can be easy to fall into the trap that a goal of 10 minutes means that I only ever do 10 minutes. I certainly struggled with that mindset at the outset. But one day, my 10 minutes were up and I wasn’t done. I still wanted more. So I let myself do more yoga, the only difference is that I stopped paying attention to the clock. In hindsight it seems like such an obvious distinction, but at the time it felt revelatory.
Routine vs. Variety – I get bored easily and I hate a truly consistent daily routine. I like to take a different route home when I go somewhere and I hate eating the same meal for lunch and dinner (both inclinations I inherited from my father). I also find the prospect of designing a different yoga routine for every day somewhat daunting. So, I split the difference. I have a list of some basic poses that I do every day. I also have a list of additional poses I can throw in to my practice if I am in the mood.
I have motivators in place – I made a deal with my husband that I will do my daily yoga practice if he meditates daily. This works because I really don’t want to tell him no when he asks me if I have done my yoga. And if I haven’t done it by the time he asks, it sort of shames me into going and doing it right then and there.
I motivate others – A friend of mine (whose own drive to make herself healthier has yielded remarkable results) has been talking about adding a daily yoga practice for a while now. One morning this week she came over and did yoga with me. The next day she publicly announced (done to rally her own motivational team) that she was adding a 5 minute yoga practice to her day. This is a big deal because she is a single mother of 2 who works full time and already has a daily exercise routine.
I feel better –Last, but certainly not least, I can feel the difference 10 minutes a day can make.