Friday, April 26, 2013

One simple thing you can do for your practice


If winter got the best of you, springtime is a perfect time to reclaim your inspired yoga practice. One of the things I've always loved about yoga is that anytime I wandered from my daily practice, I always felt completely welcomed back with no guilt, no shame, not even a setback. For me yoga has never been as much about performance of a certain position as surrendering to my inherent love of life.

The Yoga Sutras tell us that to really get the best of what yoga has to offer, we need to stick with it consistently for a long time. I wanted to share a little trick that works: one simple thing you can do to strengthen your commitment and insure consistent practice that lasts.

This is best done immediately following a really great yoga session. It doesn't make any difference if it's a yoga class, a retreat you're attending, or a perfectly aware, full session at home. Make sure you're not in a hurry to rush off to the next event. Bring a lovely piece of paper/stationery or a blank card selected especially for the occasion. If like me, you are a connoisseur of fine writing instruments, then bring along your favorite pen too.

After your next wonderfully rich, spot-on yoga session, sit quietly for a few minutes, or lie in savasana, breathing and receiving the many blessings being offered to you. Be still... open... quiet... and aware... Let yourself deeply and fully receive. Take your time. Enjoy.

When you are ready, take up your paper and write a note to yourself: the self that will invariably become distracted with all the many wonderful things to do, read, research, watch and discover in the world; the self that will decide NOT to do a yoga practice some mornings. From where you sit now, feeling what you are feeling and knowing what you experientially know right now about yoga, write yourself a note about why a regular practice of yoga is important to you. Essentially, it's a love letter to yourself.

When you are finished, place your LOVEly note in an envelope and place it somewhere you can easily get to, but won't forget about. If you have a little altar space in your yoga room, that would be ideal. I used to put mine under my yoga mat or under my meditation cushion. When I had to roll up my mat and put it away in a closet, I rolled it in my mat.

Here's the deal: promise yourself that any day you find yourself choosing to skip your practice, you will at least show up to read the note. That's all. It's beautiful. It's remarkably effective.

A note from your most awake, aware, alive, illumined self to your crazy, wild, spontaneous and sometimes distracted self. Just a note. Not a nagging note, not a finger wagging scolding note, but a love note, reminding you of the value of a promise you made to yourself. So if you don't stay to practice, simply reading your note will to some degree, shift you energetically, back to your expanded love-space while simultaneously serving to reinforce your commitment to sanity, clarity and higher consciousness.

And don't be surprised if you find yourself breathing slower, deeper, and with more awareness, maybe even finding a minute or two you didn't think you had for a standing yoga mudra, which may be followed by a few other spontaneous asanas, which may be followed by a slight change in plans... 

Do you have strategies you use to help you stay on track? We'd love to hear what works for you. Please share.