Lazy and discontinuous yoga practice? You find any excuse to postpone it? Or maybe you just wait for the weekly class to open your mat?
If you answer “yes” to one of these questions… well, then this post is for you!
I will give you good tips and methods on how to start and maintain your yoga practice over time and make it become a wonderful daily habit.
Because, I promise, you will be waiting for that moment of the day in which you can take off your socks and start your practice.
Now, take five minutes to read this post and then get ready to unroll your mat!
Nowadays, as never in the history of yoga, this discipline is becoming more and more popular all over the world.
The statistics show that in recent years the number of practitioners has grown incredibly, but if we zoom in a bit into details, they also see something else: only a few have acquired the healthy habit of making yoga a daily routine.
Many of us, including myself when I met this amazing practice, are tended to think:
“I feel so good on the couch why do I have to start training?” “Today I can sleep a bit more, why get up and open the cold mat when I can roll under the blankets in the heat?” Or… “I feel tired, I’ll do some yoga tomorrow when I have more energy”
Isn’t it true?
As Iyengar (founder of the Iyengar method) said:
“Physical health is not a commodity to be bargained for, nor can it be swallowed in the form of drugs and pills. It has to be earned through sweat. It is something that we must build up.”
So we really have to start sitting a little bit less on that couch or maybe get down from bed a few minutes before in the morning.
These are small short-term sacrifices that can incredibly improve your health in the long run.
Remember that the most important thing is to start! I bet that, with time, you will start feeling so much better that you will no longer be able to skip your practice.
The secret about yoga practice is… practice!
No matter what kind of yoga you practice, whether you do it at home, in a studio or in the gym, if you do asanas before going to bed or if you greet the sun in the morning when you wake up.
What really matters is that you practice every day. As said, the secret is practice, I will never get bored saying it.
Yoga gives us a great opportunity: to gain physical and mental health by effectively fighting today’s widespread problems such as stress, back or neck tension,…
But to effectively fight all these issues, you have to make it an habit. Is it not enough to do it once in a while, the more you practice, the more benefits you get. So why don’t take this great chance?
Here you have some tips to get to a clever practice in order to fully grasp all the wonderful fruits of yoga.
Be realistic with your expectations
Start from where you are today. The good thing of yoga is that is really made for everyone, without looking at age, sex, physical shape,…
Begin your practice and listen carefully to your body, you will easily know where’s the limit where it can go. Especially remember that no matter if you were an athlete when you were 18, you should always start with beginner asanas or classes. With practice you can take a step up in the classes you take by attending to more advanced courses or by intensifying your practice at home.
“Patience” is the “password” 😉
Listen to your body and be kind to yourself
Your body knows what it can or can’t do.
Yoga is not a competitive sport where you have to get to the end to win. This attitude is exactly the last thing that this practice wants to teach you. The only thing that, in my opinion, you have to overcome are your own limits.
Day after day, asana after asana, effort after effort… always listen to your body.
Add yoga practice to your daily schedule
Try to look at the kind of life that you are living and try to figure out which is the best time of the day for your practice. Don’t be afraid of making different attempts before finding your perfect spot. Maybe try to get up in the morning or in the evening before going to sleep.
Personally, I have to admit it depends on the season, in the summertime here is really warm and early in the morning there’s sunlight already but a little breeze perfect for my practice. However, in wintertime, you maybe want to stay a bit more in the bed when is still dark outside so I prefer practicing or right after work or before going to bed.
Once you find your right time for practice… you will become addicted to yoga, I promise!
Better quality than quantity
It doesn’t matter if you practice for two hours or for twenty minutes. what really matters is the quality of that time.
It’s much better a 20 minutes practice well done and fully focused in the present moment, then two hours without focus of without giving the most of it.
It’s obvious that the more you practice, the more you will feel the benefits, however at the beginning is enough to spend even just a few minutes a day to see the first results.
Have fun and enjoy your practice
While you are doing your practice the only thing that matters is yourself, your breathing and your body.
So try to leave off the mat all your thoughts that are not related to yoga, You’ll have time to get back to them once you finish your practice, I promise!
If you accidentally fall…. smile and try again! After all, this is just another part of the path 🙂
To end this post (I let it flow maybe a bit too much this time, I hope you didn’t get bored)… I want to tell you another secret: never surrender.
At first, you won’t be able to do what you want, maybe you don’t even get to touch your ankles, everything hurts. But when there is some small pain means that the body is adapting, therefore you are improving.
So practice, practice, and practice… over time all the difficulties or the obstacles that you had at the beginning will disappear and your body will be able to do amazing things.