New Year Yoga Challenge

Habits

Habits are powerful, unconscious patterns of behavior that once formed, play a large role in influencing the direction of one’s life.  To a certain degree, our lives go where our habits take us.  Our bodies, the vehicle; our habits, the chauffeur.

How to Form a Habit. Habits can be both good and bad, and interestingly enough, creating a good habit pretty much involves the same process as making a bad habit.  Without delving into neurological explanations for habit formation, the bottom line is that habits form through repetition. The philosopher Aristotle nailed it on the head: “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

To form a habit, all you need to do is repeat the activity over a period of time.  Opinions vary on the length of time it takes to form a habit, but most agree that it takes anywhere from three to six weeks of conscious, consistent, repetitive, and focused behavior to develop a new good habit.  It’s not always easy, but the end results are almost always worth it.

The Yoga Habit ~ 31 Day Yoga Challenge

2. Prioritize your life. If a 31 day yoga challenge is something you want to commit to, then make it a priority. Use these 31 days to simplify and streamline your life. Examine your current daily routine and activities and determine what really needs to stay and what needs to get the axe. Maybe that means watching less TV or cutting back on the internet so you have time to dedicate to your practice. Most people have plenty of time, they just don’t use it well. Depending on how high the yoga challenge ranks in your priorities, you may also decide to temporarily give up otherwise worthwhile activities to create the necessary time. Chances are if you cut something out of your life, you won’t even notice it’s gone in a month.

3. Set a time and have a practice plan. A lot of our daily routine, i.e. when, where, and how we do things, is determined by our habits. Since you’re trying to make yoga a habit, figure out the best time in the day and place for you to get on your yoga mat. Morning or night doesn’t matter so much as picking a time and then sticking to it as best as possible. Maybe there are certain yoga classes you want to attend. Plan for it. Remember, you’re trying to form a habit, and consistency will help with that. Not many people can make it to the yoga studio for 31 days in a row, so try 20 out of 31. However, when setting your schedule, also allow for some flexibility. Life would be boring if there weren’t any surprises. If you know your regular practice time won’t work one day, or something unexpected pops up, have a backup plan in place already so you’re not tempted to skip a day.

4. Educate yourself. This is also a very important step in maintaining your motivation throughout the 31 day yoga challenge. Spend some time at the bookstore or library and browse through the yoga section. If you see a book that interests you, buy it; you’ll probably never be more deserving of a purchase for yourself. Throughout the month, turn to your yoga library and other yoga-related magazines, DVDs, and websites to increase your understanding of whatever aspect of yoga interests you, be it asana sequences, philosophy, history, whatever.